• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-99
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• 2017

Offshore oscillating water columns (OWC) represent one of the most promising forms of wave energy converters. The hydrodynamic performance of such converters heavily depends on their interactions with ocean waves; therefore, understanding these interactions is essential. In this paper, a fully nonlinear 2D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on RANS equations and VOF surface capturing scheme is implemented to carry out wave energy balance analyses for an offshore OWC. The numerical model is well validated against published physical measurements including; chamber differential air pressure, chamber water level oscillation and vertical velocity, overall wave energy extraction efficiency, reflected and transmitted waves, velocity and vorticity fields (PIV measurements). Following the successful validation work, an extensive campaign of numerical tests is performed to quantify the relevance of three design parameters, namely incoming wavelength, wave height and turbine damping to the device hydrodynamic performance and wave energy conversion process. All of the three investigated parameters show important effects on the wave-pneumatic energy conversion chain. In addition, the flow field around the chamber's front wall indicates areas of energy losses by stronger vortices generation than the rear wall.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.59-60
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• 2018

The oscillating-water-column wave energy converter represents the complex physical characteristics associated with the water column, turbines, generator, and power converter. This study focuses on the derivation of the physical relationship between the water column and turbine based on the 1/ 4 scale model test. The aerodynamic characteristics of the OWC ducted turbine were simulated using an orifice. The turbine effect, a key element in the OWC-chamber performance evaluation, can be represented by the flow rate and pressure drop through the orifice. The turbine effect of OWC-WEC was confirmed to have a non-linear relationship from the measured flow rate and pressure drop in the model test.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.401-409
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• 2023

Oscillating water column (OWC) type wave power generator system is a power generation system that uses wave energy, a sustainable and renewable energy source. Irregular cycles and wave heights act as factors that make it difficult to secure generation efficiency of the wave power generator system. Recently, research for improving power generation efficiency is being conducted by applying digital twin technology to OWC type wave energy converter system. However, digital twin using sensor data can predict erroneous performance due to uncertainty in the sensor data. Therefore, this study proposes an uncertainty analysis method for sensor data which is used in digital twin to secure the reliability of digital twin prediction results. Uncertainty quantification considering sensor data characteristics and future uncertainty information according to uncertainty propagation were derived mathematically, and confidence interval estimation was performed based on the proposed method.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.89-106
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• 2017

The study explores a novel design of wave energy converter (WEC) that utilizes the interaction between an inside heaving vertical cylinder with an outside fixed hollow cylinder. This design originates from the oscillating water column (OWC) type WEC but replaces the pneumatic power take off (PTO) through the Wells turbine with the hydrodynamic PTO through the inside heaving cylinder. To effectively evaluate the maximum power output, the system has been modeled in the hydrodynamic software AQWA (developed by ANSYS Inc) that has accumulated extensive offshore industry users. Ranges of the PTO parameters have been examined to make sure that proper linear damping can be implemented to simulate the PTO force. Comparing the efficiency of the pneumatic PTO with the hydrodynamic PTO, it appears that the hydrodynamic PTO is more promising than the traditional Wells turbine for an OWC system.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2022

In recent years, various studies have been conducted on oscillating-water-column-type wave energy converters (OWC-WECs) with multiple chambers with the objective of efficiently utilizing the limited space of offshore/onshore structures. In this study, a numerical investigation based on a numerical wave tank was conducted on single, dual, and triple OWC chambers to examine the hydrodynamic performances and the energy conversion characteristics of the multiple water columns. The boundary value problem with the Laplace equation was solved by using a numerical wave tank based on a finite element method. The validity of the current numerical method was confirmed by comparing it with the measured data in the previous experimental research. We undertook a series of numerical simulations and observed that the water column motion of sloshing mode in a single chamber can be changed into the piston motion of different phases in multiple OWC chambers. Therefore, the piston motion in the multiple chambers can generate considerable airflow at a specific resonant frequency. In addition, the division of the OWC chamber results in a reduction of the time-dependent variability of the final output power from the device. As a result, the application of the multiple chambers leads to an increase of the energy conversion performance as well as a decrease of the variability of the wave energy converter.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.672-682
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• 2020

The Korea Nowadays, which is research on digital twin technology for efficient operation in various industrial/manufacturing sites, is being actively conducted, and gradual depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution issues require new renewable/eco-friendly power generation methods, such as wave power plants. In wave power generation, however, which generates electricity from the energy of waves, it is very important to understand and predict the amount of power generation and operational efficiency factors, such as breakdown, because these are closely related by wave energy with high variability. Therefore, it is necessary to derive a meaningful correlation between highly volatile data, such as wave height data and sensor data in an oscillating water column (OWC) chamber. Secondly, the methodological study, which can predict the desired information, should be conducted by learning the prediction situation with the extracted data based on the derived correlation. This study designed a workflow-based training model using a machine learning framework to predict the pressure of the OWC. In addition, the validity of the pressure prediction analysis was verified through a verification and evaluation dataset using an IoT sensor data to enable smart operation and maintenance with the digital twin of the wave generation system.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.465-468
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• 2006

The wave power absorbing performance of a bottom-mounted oscillating water column (OWC) chamber structure is studied. The potential problem inside the chamber is solved by making use of the Green integral equation associated with the Rankine Green function while the outer problem with the Kelvin Green function taking account of fluctuating air pressure in the air chamber. The absorbed wave power, wave elevation inside the chamber, reflection coefficient and wave loads are calculated for various values of a parameter related to the fluctuating air pressure. The present methods can also be used for the design of a OWC breakwater which can absorb and reflect the incoming wave energy at the same time.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2008

A numerical investigation is made on the effects of the location and shape of the front wall of an OWC(Oscillating Water Column) chamber on the hydroelastic response of a VLFS. Most of the studies on the effects of an OWC chamber on the response of a VLFS have assumed the location of the OWC chamber to be at the front of the VLFS. In the present study, an OWC-chamber is introduced at an arbitrary position in relation to a VLFS to determine the influence of the location and shape of the OWC chamber on the hydroelastic response of the VLFS. A finite element method is adopted as a numerical scheme for the fluid domain. or the finite element method, combined with a mode superposition method, is applied in order to consider the change of mass and stiffness The OWC chamber in a piecewise constant manner. or the facilitated anefficient analysis of The hydroelastic response of the VLFS, as well as the easy modeling of different shape and material properties for the structure. Reduction of hydroelastic response of the VLFS is investigated for various locations and front wall shapes of the owe chamber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2019.11a
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• pp.150-152
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• 2019

In this study, the effects of the wave field changes due to the coastal structure on the hydrodynamic performance of the OWC wave energy, converter are analyzed using a three-dimensional numerical wave tank technique (NWT). The OWC device is simulated numerically by introducing a linear pressure drop model, considering the coupling effect between the turbine and the OWC chamber in the time domain. The flow distribution around the chamber is different due to the change of reflection characteristics depending on the consideration of the breakwater model. The wave energy captured from the breakwater is spatially distributed on the plane of the front of the breakwater, and the converted pneumatic power increased when concentrated in front of the chamber. The change of the standing wave distribution is repeated according to the relationship between the incident wavelength and the length of the breakwater, and the difference in energy conversion performance of the OWC was confirmed.