Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T03:03:56.549Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wave energy absorption by a floating air bag

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2016

A. Kurniawan*
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PlymouthPL4 8AA, UK Department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University, Thomas Manns Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark
J. R. Chaplin
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Highfield, SouthamptonSO17 1BJ, UK
D. M. Greaves
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PlymouthPL4 8AA, UK
M. Hann
Affiliation:
School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PlymouthPL4 8AA, UK
*
Email address for correspondence: aku@civil.aau.dk

Abstract

A floating air bag, ballasted in water, expands and contracts as it heaves under wave action. Connecting the bag to a secondary volume via a turbine transforms the bag into a device capable of generating useful energy from the waves. Small-scale measurements of the device reveal some interesting properties, which are successfully predicted numerically. Owing to its compressibility, the device can have a heave resonance period longer than that of a rigid device of the same shape and size, without any phase control. Furthermore, varying the amount of air in the bag is found to change its shape and hence its dynamic response, while varying the turbine damping or the air volume ratio changes the dynamic response without changing the shape.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2016 Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bellamy, N. W. 1982 Development of the SEA Clam wave energy converter. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Wave Energy Utilization, pp. 175190. Tapir.Google Scholar
Budal, K. & Falnes, J. 1975 A resonant point absorber of ocean-wave power. Nature 256, 478479; with Corrigendum in Nature, vol. 257, p. 626, 1975.Google Scholar
Chaplin, J., Farley, F., Greaves, D., Hann, M., Kurniawan, A. & Cox, M. 2015a Numerical and experimental investigation of wave energy devices with inflated bags. In Proceedings of 11th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Nantes, France.Google Scholar
Chaplin, J. R., Farley, F., Kurniawan, A., Greaves, D. & Hann, M. 2015b Forced heaving motion of a floating air-filled bag. In Proceedings of 30th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Bristol, UK.Google Scholar
Chaplin, J. R., Heller, V., Farley, F. J. M., Hearn, G. E. & Rainey, R. C. T. 2012 Laboratory testing the Anaconda. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 370 (1959), 403424.Google Scholar
Crowley, S., Porter, R. & Evans, D. V. 2013 A submerged cylinder wave energy converter. J. Fluid Mech. 716, 566596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D. V. 1976 A theory for wave power absorption by oscillating bodies. J. Fluid Mech. 77 (1), 125.Google Scholar
Evans, D. V. & Porter, R. 2012 Wave energy extraction by coupled resonant absorbers. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 370 (1959), 315344.Google Scholar
Falnes, J. 2002 Ocean Waves and Oscillating Systems. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farley, F. J. M. 2011 The free floating clam – a new wave energy converter. In Proceedings of the 9th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Southampton.Google Scholar
Farley, F. J. M.2012 Free floating bellows wave energy converter. UK Patent GB2488185.Google Scholar
Fenton, J. D. 1978 Wave forces on vertical bodies of revolution. J. Fluid Mech. 85, 241255.Google Scholar
French, M. J. 1979 The search for low cost wave energy and the flexible bag device. In Proceedings of 1st Symposium Wave Energy Utilization, pp. 364377. Chalmers University of Technology.Google Scholar
Gomes, R. P. F., Henriques, J. C. C., Gato, L. M. C. & Falcão, A. F. O. 2015a Testing of a small-scale model of a heaving floating OWC in a wave channel and comparison with numerical results. In Renewable Energies Offshore (ed. Guedes Soares, C.), pp. 445454. CRC.Google Scholar
Gomes, R. P. F., Henriques, J. C. C., Gato, L. M. C. & Falcão, A. F. O. 2015b Wave channel tests of a slack-moored floating oscillating water column in regular waves. In Proceedings of the 11th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Nantes, France.Google Scholar
Harrison, H. B. 1970 The analysis and behaviour of inflatable membrane dams under static loading. Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers 45 (4), 661676.Google Scholar
Hulme, A. 1982 The wave forces acting on a floating hemisphere undergoing forced periodic oscillations. J. Fluid Mech. 121, 443463.Google Scholar
Isaacson, M. de St. Q. 1982 Fixed and floating axisymmetric structures in waves. J. Waterway Port Coastal Ocean Division 108, 180199.Google Scholar
Kurniawan, A., Greaves, D. & Chaplin, J. 2014 Wave energy devices with compressible volumes. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 470 (2172), 20140559.Google Scholar
Kurniawan, A., Greaves, D., Hann, M., Chaplin, J. R. & Farley, F. 2016 Wave energy absorption by a floating air-filled bag. In Proceedings of 31st International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Plymouth, US.Google Scholar
Lopes, D. B. S. & Sarmento, A. J. N. A. 2002 Hydrodynamic coefficients of a submerged pulsating sphere in finite depth. Ocean Engng 29 (11), 13911398.Google Scholar
Newman, J. N. 1962 The exciting forces on fixed bodies in waves. J. Ship Res. 6 (3), 1017.Google Scholar
Newman, J. N. 1976 The interaction of stationary vessels with regular waves. In Eleventh Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics, pp. 491501. Mechanical Engineering Publications.Google Scholar
Newman, J. N. 1994 Wave effects on deformable bodies. Appl. Ocean Res. 16, 4759.Google Scholar
Pagitz, M. 2007 The future of scientific ballooning. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 365 (1861), 30033017.Google Scholar
Pagitz, M. & Pellegrino, S. 2010 Maximally stable lobed balloons. Intl J. Solids Struct. 47 (11–12), 14961507.Google Scholar
Parbery, R. D. 1976 A continuous method of analysis for the inflatable dam. Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers 61 (4), 725736.Google Scholar
Pimm, A. J., Garvey, S. D. & de Jong, M. 2014 Design and testing of energy bags for underwater compressed air energy storage. Energy 66, 496508.Google Scholar
Taylor, G. I. 1963 On the shapes of parachutes. In The Scientific Papers of G. I. Taylor (ed. Batchelor, G. K.), pp. 2637. Cambridge University Press; (Original work published 1919).Google Scholar
Todalshaug, J. H., Ásgeirsson, G. S., Hjálmarsson, E., Maillet, J., Möller, P., Pires, P., Guérinel, M. & Lopes, M. 2016 Tank testing of an inherently phase-controlled wave energy converter. Intl J. Marine Energy 15, 6884.Google Scholar
WAMIT2015 WAMIT, Inc., Chestnut Hill, MA, version 7.1.Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Yang, J. & Xiao, L. 2014 Numerical study of an oscillating wave energy converter with nonlinear snap-through power-take-off systems in regular waves. J. Ocean Wind Energy 1 (4), 225230.Google Scholar