Application, modelling and validation of an OWSC using DualSPHysics

Abstract

The DualSPHysics implementation of Project Chrono is applied to model the hydrodynamics of an oscillating wave surge converter (OWSC) with a hydraulic power takeoff (PTO) mechanism. The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model of DualSPHysics is used to model the fluid and Project Chrono’s library implementation is used to describe the mechanical systems. The outputs of the simulations include a force history on each link and contact, as well as velocity and position series for each system component, allowing for a complete, integrated analysis of the fluid-mechanism system. An initial validation of the approach using novel experimental data is presented, showing good agreement of the numerical solution with the collected data. These results confirm the applicability of the approach to model wave energy converters with complex mechanical constraints, including nonlinear PTOs.