• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.216-228
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• 2021

In the present study, the performance of a floating oscillating water column (OWC) device has been studied in regular waves. The OWC model has the shape of a hollow cylinder. The linear potential theory is assumed, and a matched eigenfunction expansion method(MEEM) is applied for solving the diffraction and radiation problems. The radiation problem involves the radiation of waves by the heaving motion of a floating OWC device and the oscillating pressure in the air chamber. The characteristics of the exciting forces, hydrodynamic forces, flow rate, air pressure in the chamber, and heave motion response are investigated with various system parameters, such as the inner radius, draft of an OWC, and turbine constant. The efficiency of a floating OWC device is estimated in connection with the extracted wave power and capture width. Specifically, the piston-mode resonance in an internal fluid region plays an important role in the performance of a floating OWC device, along with the heave motion resonance. The developed prediction tool will help determine the various design parameters affecting the performance of a floating OWC device in waves.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.77-90
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• 1997

Wave deformation due to Oscillating water column (OWC) plant was studied. To solve this problem, three dimensional numerical method based on Improved Green integral equation was applied. Method condition was considered as well as fixed condition and freely floating condition. From the calculation results, main characteriatic of wave deformation due to OWC plant were discussed. Also, some calculations for the floating barge were performed to confirm the validity of numerical solution of the method.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.103-107
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• 2013

The structure of a variable liquid column oscillator(a VLCO) is analogous to that of the tuned liquid column damper used to suppress oscillatory motion in large structures like tall buildings and cargo ships. The VLCO is a system absorbing high kinetic energy of accelerated motions of multiple floating bodies in the effect of air springs occurred by installation of inner air chambers. Thus, VLCO can improve the efficiency of energy than wave energy converters of the activating object type made in Pelamis Company. In this research, the experiment was performed that a simple floating body was filled with internal fluid of same draft. The characteristics of motions were evaluated in each case of the opening or closing of the upper valves.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.27-31
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• 2013

The structure of a variable liquid column oscillator(VLCO) is analogous to that of the tuned liquid column damper used to suppress oscillatory motion in large structures like tall buildings and cargo ships. The VLCO is a system for absorbing the high kinetic energy of the accelerated motions of multiple floating bodies using an air-spring effect produced the installation of inner air chambers. Thus, a VLCO can improve the energy efficiency of the activating object type of wave energy converters made by the Pelamis Company. In this research, an experiment was performed in two cases: with the top valves closed and open. The floating bodies were connected by hinges. The effect of the internal flow was estimated by comparing the results for the closed and open valves.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2018

Stone column installation is a convenient method for improvement of soft ground. In very soft clays, in order to increase the lateral confinement of the stone columns, encasing the columns with high stiffness and creep resistant geosynthetics has proved to be a successful solution. This paper presents the results of three dimensional finite element analyses for evaluating improvement in behaviour of ordinary stone columns (OSCs) installed in soft clay by geotextile encasement under monotonic and cyclic loading by a comprehensive parametric study. The parameters include length and stiffness of encasement, types of stone columns (floating and end bearing), frictional angle and elastic modulus of stone column's material and diameter of stone columns. The results indicate that increasing the stiffness of encasement clearly enhances cyclic behaviour of geotextile encased stone columns (GESCs) in terms of reduction in residual settlement. Performance of GESCs is less sensitive to internal friction angle and elasticity modulus of column's materials in comparison with OSCs. Also, encasing at the top portion of stone column up to triple the diameter of column is found to be adequate in improving its residual settlement and at all loading cycles, end bearing columns provide much higher resistance than floating columns.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.95-111
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• 2011

Increasing numbers of floating offshore wind turbines are planned and designed these days due to their high potential in massive generation of clean energy from water depth deeper than 50 m. In the present study, a numerical prediction tool has been developed for the fully-coupled dynamic analysis of FOWTs in time domain including aero-blade-tower dynamics and control, mooring dynamics, and platform motions. In particular, the focus of the present study is paid to the dynamic coupling between the rotor and floater and the coupled case is compared against the uncoupled case so that their dynamic coupling effects can be identified. For this purpose, a mono-column mini TLP with 1.5MW turbine for 80m water depth is selected as an example. The time histories and spectra of the FOWT motions and accelerations as well as tether top-tensions are presented for the given collinear wind-wave condition. When compared with the uncoupled analysis, both standard deviations and maximum values of the floater-responses/tower-accelerations and tether tensions are appreciably increased as a result of the rotor-floater dynamic coupling, which may influence the overall design including fatigue-life estimation especially when larger blades are to be used.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.95-107
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• 2016

Deep soil mixing with cement and cement-lime mixtures has been widely used for decades to improve the strength of soils. In this study, small-scale laboratory model tests of polymer columns in soft clayey soil were conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using various polymeric compounds as binders in deep soil mixing. Floating and end bearing polymer columns were used to examine the load-settlement relationship of improved soft clayey soils for various area replacement ratios. The results indicate that polymer columns show good promise for use in deep mixing applications.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.16-21
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• 2014

The structure of the variable liquid column oscillator(VLCO) is analogous to that of the tuned liquide column damper used to suppress oscillatory motion in large structures like tall buildings and cargo ships. VLCO is the technology to absorb high potential energy made by process of accelerated motions to occur the effect of an air spring by installation of inner air chamber. So, the application of VLCO can obtain to improve efficiency of energy than wave energy converters made in Pelamis Company. In this research, the experiments were carried out for the motion characteristics of simple floating body by varying the amount of internal fluid. The experimental results were compared with the calculated results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2018

In order to evaluate the performance of the floating wave power, which is an axisymmetric oscillating water column type, linearized free surface boundary condition considering the influence of PTO (power takeoff) was derived and a finite element numerical model was established. Numerical experiments were carried out by varying cylinder length, skirt length, and depth of water, which are design parameters that can change the resonance of water column in cylinder and heave resonance of the float, which is considered to affect the power generation efficiency. Finally, the basic data necessary for the optimum design of the power generation system were obtained. As a result, the efficiency of the power generation system is dominated by the heave motion resonance of the float rather than the water column resonance in the cylinder, and the resonance condition for the heave motion can be changed efficiently by attaching the skirt to the outside of the buoy.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 1992

The hydrodynamic performance of a floating-type OWC (Oscillating Water Column) chamber is studied numerically and experimentally in this study. The numerical approach based on two-dimensional linear theory of floating wave absorber was attempted to design an efficient wave energy absorber, while model test was performed in a wave basin to test a performance of designed model and validate the reliability of developed numerical code. The focus of study is placed mainly on the experimental study to evaluate the principal characteristics of the designed OWC chamber in regular waves. The effects of the variation of wave height on OWC device and of air pressure inside chamber are also presented. Finally, the measured results were compared with computed ones, and it was shown that the designed chamber works with high efficiency $(\eta_H>1$ over most of wave lengths covered by present study. It is therefore concluded that the developed code is capable of being successfully employed to design OWC chambers at various ocean environments, even though there exist some minor discrepancies between measured and computed results.