Wave power extracting system with multi-resonators attached to vertical breakwaters

Abstract

Ocean wave is one of renewable energy sources, of which the theoretical energy potential is estimated to be 32,000TWh/yr according to Mørk et al. (2010), however, that is highly underutilized up to recently. In this study, a new system is proposed, that can enhance not only the efficiency of the system by using resonant phenomena in wave channel but also the economic feasibility by using existing caisson- type breakwater as support structure. To evaluate the performance of proposed system, numerical analyses by using Galerkin's finite element model based on the linear potential theory were carried out for various damping ratio which is directly related to extracting wave power. Numerical results reveal that the performance of the proposed system is fairly good compared with that of the conventional one. Copyright © 2014 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).