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Numerical modelling in wave energy conversion systems

A. El Marjani a,, F. Castro Ruiz b, M.A. Rodriguez b, M.T. Parra Santos b
a b

Labo. de Turbomachines, Ecole Mohammadia dIngenieurs (EMI), Universite Mohammed V Agdal, Av Ibn Sina, B.P. 765 Agdal, Rabat, Morocco Depto. de Ingeniera Energetica y Fluidomecanica, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Universidad de Valladolid, Paseo del Cauce s/n, E-47011 Valladolid, Espana

a r t i c l e in fo
Article history: Received 31 July 2007 Keywords: OWC system Radial impulse turbine 3D viscous simulation Fluents code

abstract
This paper deals with a numerical modelling devoted to predict the ow characteristics in the components of an oscillating water column (OWC) system used for the wave energy capture. In the present paper, the ow behaviour is modelled by using the FLUENT code. Two numerical ow models have been elaborated and tested independently in the geometries of an air chamber and a turbine, which is chosen of a radial impulse type. The ow is assumed to be three-dimensional (3D), viscous, turbulent and unsteady. The FLUENT code is used with a solver of the coupled conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, with an implicit time scheme and with the adoption of the dynamic mesh and the sliding mesh techniques in areas of moving surfaces. Turbulence is modelled with the ke model. The obtained results indicate that the developed models are well suitable to analyse the air ows both in the air chamber and in the turbine. The performances associated with the energy transfer processes have been well predicted. For the turbine, the numerical results of pressure and torque were compared to the experimental ones. Good agreements between these results have been observed. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Energy in oceans encloses ocean thermal energy, tidal energy, wave energy and energy of marine currents. Great R&D efforts have been made during the last decades, especially in the eld of the wave energy exploitation. Among the wide variety of possible wave energy system converters, the oscillating water column (OWC) system can be considered as the most used concept for the ocean wave energy capture, because it is a shoreline device, and therefore, installation costs are low and maintenance is easier [1]. The amount of energy, which could be converted into a useful energy, depends strongly on the ow behaviour inside the air chamber and inside the turbine used to convert the pneumatic energy to the mechanical one. The design importance of the air chamber is well underlined in the experimental study of Ref. [2], in which analyses have been aimed to nd regimes of high amplication of the air movement inside the air chamber, especially those related to the resonance occurrence. The importance of the air chamber of an OWC system is also underlined in the research study presented in Ref. [3]. Researches have been aimed to establish an optimisation strategy in the different energy conversion stages, rstly from sea waves to air, and secondly from air to turbine. The main objective was

Corresponding author. Tel.: +212 37 77 19 05/68 71 50; fax: +212 37 77 88 53.

E-mail addresses: marjani@emi.ac.ma (A. El Marjani), castro@eis.uva.es (F. Castro Ruiz). 0360-5442/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2008.02.018

connected with the determination of the maximal global efciency of the OWC system with respect to the principal chamber dimensions, the chamber submergence in water and nally the turbine characteristics (diameter and rotation). Efciencies greater than 80% have been presented for certain parameters choices. However, the model system used for the efciency evaluation did not integrate the effects of the aerodynamic losses related to the viscous ows in the air chamber and in the turbine. In order to get a real value of this parameter, it is essential to incorporate in the employed model the effects of the aerodynamic losses, which can inuence considerably the energetic performances. The turbine, used in an OWC system, should be unidirectional rotation despite changes in the air ow direction resulting from water level oscillation cycles in the air chamber. Several kinds of turbines have been envisaged for the pneumatic energy conversion to the mechanical energy [4]. The Wells turbine was the rst choice for the all built OWC plants, such as PICO in Azores, LIMPET in Islay (Scotland), and others. However, according to investigations reported in todays literature, this kind of turbine has inherent crucial disadvantages [1], which are principally connected to: narrow ow rate range for high operating efciency, severe aerodynamic stalling, important compressibility effects, high sound level due to high rotational speed, and important mechanical solicitations due to the oscillating axial thrust. In order to overcome these weak points, an alternative self-rectifying turbine, called impulse turbine, has gained more attention during the last decade [4,5]. Research results reveal that signicant

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Nomenclature AR 2prRh turbine ow passage area C A DpT =1=2rv2 U 2 turbine total pressure coefcient R R 0 C T T 0 =1=2rv2 U 2 AR r R turbine torque coefcient R R Q volume ow rate Qm mass ow rate T wave period T0 turbine torque

r density UR blade circumferential velocity at rR F vR =U R turbine ow coefcient h blade length vR Q =AR mean radial velocity at rR P pneumatic power DpT turbine total pressure difference 0 DpC air chamber total pressure difference 0 rR mean radius

improvements in the turbine characteristics (efciency, operating rotation, starting, etc.) could be reached with an impulse turbine. Note that the impulse turbine can operate as either an axial or a radial machine, depending on blades disposition. Fig. 4 shows the blades arrangement in the rotor for each case. Note that the radial option of this turbine presents some advantages regarding, for example, the absence of the oscillating axial thrust and the low cost of manufacturing due to the simplicity of the blade geometry. In the radial case, blades are curved only in one direction, whereas in the axial case, a blade geometry adaptation is needed along the radial direction, so the blade prole becomes inevitably three-dimensional (3D). In the present study, attempts aimed to simulate the local ow behaviour in the components of an OWC system are performed with the FLUENT code. The objectives are connected with the elaboration and the validation of two independent models developed for the air ow simulation in the air chamber and in the turbine, respectively. The ow is considered to be 3D, viscous, turbulent and unsteady. These models permit the analysis of the energetic performances, particularly the energy losses, which depend on the ow pattern inside the geometry of these components. The aerodynamic efciency could be affected considerably by these losses. In addition, the use of an accurate and an adequate numerical simulation tool for the prediction of the local ow characteristics inside the air chamber and the turbine can be extended to be exploited in the design analysis of a new efcient OWC system. 2. Numerical ow simulation in OWC system 2.1. OWC system description An OWC device consists mainly of a submerged chamber connected to the atmosphere by means of a circular duct inside which a bidirectional ow turbine is installed (Fig. 1). The ow rate of air through the turbine is generated by the successive

incident sea water waves that compress and depressurise air in the air chamber by means of the periodic motion of the oscillating free surface. In order to prevent excessive ow rates through the turbine, a control valve can be installed in the top of the air chamber [1]. In the present study, we do not take into account the inuence of this valve.

2.2. Flow simulation in the air chamber Flow simulations are performed by use of the FLUENT code in order to predict the ow behaviour inside the air chamber of an OWC system. The main geometric characteristics of the air chamber, used in the present study, are depicted in Fig. 2. Dimensions correspond to those of the PICO plant built in Azores [6]. Flow is considered viscous, 3D and unsteady with compressibility effects. The code is used with a solver of the coupled conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy, with an implicit time scheme and with a dynamic mesh in the area of moving boundary (oscillating free surface in Fig. 1). Turbulence is modelled with the classical ke model. The preceding system of conservation equations is closed with the classical state equation for an ideal gas. The boundary conditions correspond to a xed pressure at the outlet of the duct (atmospheric pressure) and a sinusoidal moving boundary at the oscillating free surface. In the rest of the geometry, the condition of zero velocity on all walls is applied. A turbine is supposed located at section B (Fig. 2), and included in the numerical simulation by its global aerodynamic characteristic (total pressure difference versus ow rate).

Valve Duct Air Chamber Air Turbine

Incident Wave

Oscillating free surface

Fig. 1. The oscillating water column system.

Fig. 2. Main dimensions of the air chamber.

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2.3. Flow simulation in the turbine FLUENT code is exploited for the numerical prediction of the air ow behaviour in a self-rectifying radial impulse turbine. The turbine geometry considered by Setoguchi et al. [7] has been adopted for the numerical model validation. This turbine is equipped with a single rotor of symmetrical blades (R), one row of inner guide vanes (IGV) and one row of outer guide vanes (OGV) (Figs. 3a and 3b). Details of the turbine geometry characteristics and dimensions are presented in Ref. [7]. The main geometrical characteristics are briey indicated in Table 1. The Reynolds number, based on the blade chord, reaches a maximum value of 6 104. The ow model solves the incompressible conservation equations by using a segregated solver. The ke turbulence model is adopted with the standard wall logarithmic function. The time dependent term is approximated with a rst order implicit scheme. The pressurevelocity

coupling is performed through the SIMPLEC algorithm. The high order MUSCL scheme has been used for the convection terms discretisation, and the classical central differences for the diffusion terms approximation. Since the geometry includes rotating components, the sliding mesh technique has been exploited to manage the relative movement between the rotor and the stator of the turbine. This technique allows unsteady simulations, because the ow variables are interpolated across a sliding interface. The boundary conditions correspond to a uniform total pressure at the ow inlet and a uniform static pressure at the ow outlet. The radial equilibrium condition has been applied for the static pressure eld compatibility. On all walls, the non-slip condition is applied. However, in order to reduce the variables storage and to improve the numerical accuracy, we have reduced the whole domain of calculation to a small angular sector with conditions of periodicity on the periodic boundaries (Fig. 9).

Plenum chamber A

F E D C B

Outer guide vanes (OGV) Rotor (R) Inner guide vane (IGV)

0.0023

0.132

0.23 Blade height : 0.1978

0.114 (OGV) 25

0.17 Rotation 0.17 25 0.114 (IGV) Inward flow or Inhalation Outward flow or Exhalation 0.102 0.23 1

(ROTOR)

Mean radius (rR)

Fig. 3. (a) Radial impulse turbine stage. (b) Dimensionless turbine dimensions (with respect to the mean radius rR 217.4 mm).

Table 1 Blade number Inner guide vane (IGV) Rotor (R) Outer guide vane (OGV) 52 51 73 Chord length (mm) 50 54 50 Solidity 2.29 2.02 2.28 Setting angle 251 Case (1) [7] 251

Fig. 4. Radial (a) and axial (b) impulse turbine.

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3. Results 3.1. Air chamber aerodynamic characteristics GAMBIT associated with the FLUENT code is used for meshing the 3D geometry. Mesh in the area of moving surface (from Min to Max in Fig. 2) consists of quadrilateral cells; in the rest of the domain, triangular ones are used. A number of 3 897 cells (Fig. 5) characterizes the mesh used in all calculations. This number is not high, but in order to ensure accurate results, we have adopted a

Fig. 5. 3D air chamber grid.

mesh of variable density, and using small cells size in areas suspected of high ow variation such as the connection between the air chamber and the duct. Due to the oscillating movement of the water free surface, we have xed in the numerical computations a time variation velocity by using the equation: v(t) H(2pT1)cos(2pT1t), (v: velocity, T: period, t: time, H: height amplitude equal to 0.78 m). The water surface displacement associated with the integration of the preceding equation permits to the free surface to oscillate between the levels indicated by Min and Max in Fig. 2. Calculations are performed by introducing a linear turbine characteristic (total pressure-ow rate) at section B (Fig. 2). Calculations have been carried out by considering a monochromatic sinusoidal variation for the water free surface with various periods: 68101216 s. Four successive cycles, and more in some cases, are needed in order to eliminate the transient effects, which are encountered in the rst time steps. We have adopted for the all considered periods a time step of 0.01 s. Fig. 6 illustrates the pneumatic power variation generated inside the duct for a period of 6 s during the exhalation phase. This quantity is calculated by: P r1 DpC Q m , where DpC is the total 0 0 pressure difference created in the chamber, r the air density and Qm the mass ow rate. The results indicate that the pneumatic power available for the turbine at section B can reach a maximum value of 200 kW. Losses in the total pressure in the air chamber are depicted in Fig. 7, in which we have plotted the RMS values of total pressure drops versus frequency. This gure reveals essentially that the total pressure drop variation is well tted by a parabolic relation.

300000 250000 Power ( Watt ) 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 12.00 -50000 14.00 16.00 18.00 Time (sec)
Fig. 6. Instantaneous pneumatic power.

Power at station C Power at station D

20.00

22.00

24.00

500 450 Pressure drop (Pa) 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 T = 16 sec T = 10 sec T = 12 sec 0.08 0.10 0.12 Frequency ( Hz ) 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 T = 8 sec T = 6 sec Simulation Parabolic fitting

Fig. 7. Total pressure drop between sections A and C.

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1.0 0.9 0.8 Losses Coefficient 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 Frequency (Hz) 0.14 0.16 0.18 T=16 sec T=12 sec T=10 sec T=8 sec T=6 sec

Fig. 8. Air chamber losses coefcient.

The coefcient of total pressure losses (x) in the air chamber is plotted in Fig. 8. This parameter is dened as: x r v2 1 C p0 A p0 C , where (p0)A or (p0)C: RMS total pressure at section A or C and vc: RMS velocity at Section C (Fig. 2). This coefcient represents the part of the energy lost in the air chamber with respect to the kinetic energy generated in the duct, where the turbine is installed. Its value, depending only on the geometry of the air chamber, should be minimised for a best design. From Fig. 8, it can be noted that x is practically constant and its mean value lies between 0.5 and 0.6, indicating the presence of signicant losses of energy in the air chamber. These analyses concern only the evaluation of the energetic performances associated with the development of the viscous ow inside the air chamber. Energetic aspects connected with the conversion of the initial incident wave energy by the air chamber have not been considered in the present study. Note that the availability of given informations about the wave energy from the sea will permit the global efciency evaluation of the air chamber and also of the plant.

OGV blade

Rotor blade Periodic boundary

Periodic boundary IGV blade

Fig. 9. Turbine periodic domain.

3.2. Turbine aerodynamic characteristics Before starting calculations in the 3D case, tests in a bidimensional (2D) geometry have been carried out in order to verify the validity of the present model, especially for calculations with periodic conditions. Simulations have been performed by considering, rstly, a total 2D domain, and secondly, a reduced 2D domain with periodic boundaries (Fig. 9). GAMBIT associated with the FLUENT code was exploited for meshing these domains with unstructured triangular cells. During the preprocessing phase, it was found necessary to adjust the number of xed guide vanes. Hence, instead of 73 and 52 blades (see Table 1), we have retained in the periodic domain only 68 and 51 blades for the OGV and IGV elements, respectively. Results have revealed negligible differences between all the compared aerodynamic characteristics. Therefore, it was concluded that simulations can be performed economically without lose of accuracy in a periodic domain. The time step used in the 3D simulation was set to 0.001 s. The impeller grid movement is related with this time step and the imposed rotational speed (o 234 rpm), so a complete revolution needs 256 time steps. Pressure values on the ow inlet and outlet boundaries have been obtained from the experimental work of

5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

% difference

%CT

%CA

190.000

320.106

442.970 594.000 Cells number

1.030.872

Fig. 10. 3D relative difference in the results with respect to the number of cells.

Ref. [7], and then have been introduced in simulations after correcting them for geometrical differences [8]. Grid independence tests have been carried out for both the 2D and 3D calculations. Results are depicted in Fig. 10 for the case of exhalation. We precise that the different meshes used in these analyses are not similar and there are differences in mesh renement, what could affect the errors behaviour. From Fig. 10, it can be noted that the maximum difference, which is of 3.5%, is encountered for the torque coefcient. Seeing that the error differences are not important, it was decided to use the grid of 190 000 cells in order to save the computational time.

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80 70
Efficiency (%)

Rotor (Inhalation) Rotor (Exhalation) Turbine (Inhalation) Turbine (Exhalation)

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 II 2.00

2.50

3.00

Fig. 11. Rotor and turbine efciency.

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0

Inlet

IGV

Rotor

OGV

Outlet

% Total Pressure Drop

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

80 % Total Pressure Drop 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 ||

Fig. 12. (a) Energy repartition in exhalation (Inlet: A0 to B0 , Outlet: E0 to F0 ). (b) Energy repartition in inhalation (Inlet: F0 to E0 , Outlet: B0 to A0 ).

Inlet

OGV

Rotor

IGV

Outlet

1.5

2.0

2.5

The rotor and the turbine efciency versus the ow rate coefcient are depicted in Fig. 11. The efciency is determined by the ratio of the energy on the rotor shaft and the energy available between the rotor entrance and exit for the rotor efciency calculation, or between the turbine entrance and exit for the turbine efciency calculation. A maximum rotor efciency around 70%, for a ow coefcient of about 3/4, is achieved in the inhalation case. In the same gure, we can note an important reduction in the turbine energetic performances due to the inuence of the guide vanes, especially in the case of exhalation for which the maximum turbine efciency is around 30%. From

detailed reaction degree analyses in the turbine stage, aimed at the determination of the static pressure contribution in the energy transfer, it was found that the inhalation mode of functioning benets of a high reaction degree [8], what explains the high performances of the energy transfer occurring during the inhalation. Percentages of the energy lost in the xed components and the effective energy transferred by the rotor have been examined. Results are presented in Figs. 12a and 12b for the exhalation and the inhalation operations, respectively. Observations of these graphs reveal principally: signicant energy losses occur in the

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18.0 16.0 Pressure Coefficient (CA) 14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 Inhalation 4.0 2.0 -3.00 -2.00 -1.00 0.0 0.00 8.0 7.0 6.0 Torque Coefficient (CT) 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 Inhalation 1.0 0.0 0.00 -1.0

Experimental (-) Experimental (+) Numerical Numerical

Exhalation

1.00

2.00

3.00

Experimental (-) Experimental (+) Numerical Numerical

Exhalation

-3.00

-2.00

-1.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

Fig. 13. (a) Turbine total pressure coefcient (CA). (b) Turbine torque coefcient (CT).

xed components, important energy losses appear in the outer and the inner guide vanes for the exhalation operation, energy available for rotor is higher in the inhalation than in the exhalation, tendency of energy losses in IGV shows a minimum for inhalation, and the level of useful energy is higher in the inhalation than in the exhalation. Comparisons between the numerical results and the experimental ones from Ref. [7] are depicted in Figs. 13a and 13b. Results correspond to the dimensionless coefcients for the total pressure (CA) and the torque (CT) in the turbine. It can be noted that for both coefcients, the numerical results compare very well with the experimental ones, what conrm the capability of the employed model to predict correctly the turbine characteristics. Taking into account the measuring procedures as described in Ref. [7], it could be considered the following measurement maximum uncertainties: 71%, 71% and 74% in torque, pressure and ow rate, respectively. These uncertainties decrease with the ow rate. The 74% uncertainty in the ow rate is due to the nonuniform ow at section A0 (see Fig. 3a). These positive and negative uncertainties are indicated, respectively, by the Experimental (+) and Experimental () curves in the graphs 13a and 13b. It can be observed that the numerical and the experimental results remain comparable even with the introduction of the experimental uncertainties.

4. Conclusions Three-dimensional numerical simulations of unsteady viscous ows in the air chamber and in the turbine, used in OWC systems for wave energy conversion, have been performed with the FLUENT code. Two 3D viscous ow models have been developed and validated successfully in the geometries of an air chamber and a radial impulse turbine. Both the inhalation and the exhalation modes of functioning have been considered. Flow simulations in the air chamber have been performed for various incident wave periods. Calculations have revealed that signicant levels of the pneumatic energy can be generated in the air chamber. Energy losses encountered in this component are well predicted, and it is shown that their evolution follows a parabolic law with the frequency variation. The ow in the turbine has been simulated successfully with the use of the sliding mesh technique. Results reveal that the energetic performances are higher in the case of the inhalation mode than in the case of the exhalation. The analysis of the turbine efciency underlines the importance of the guide vanes in the energy transfers. The accuracy of the air ow numerical model in the turbine has been tested through the comparisons carried out between numerical and experimental results. Good agreements have been obtained. In general, it is concluded that the two elaborated numerical models are powerful and well suitable to predict the 3D unsteady

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viscous ow behaviour in the air chamber and in the turbine. These models can be coupled in order to have an efcient numerical tool for analysing accurately the energetic performances of an OWC system.

Acknowledgments ola de Cooperacion This project is a PCI of the Agencia Espan Internacional for the development of a project based on an OWC converter plant. Thanks to the University of Valladolid (Spain) and the University of Mohammed V-Agdal (Morocco) for their supports. References
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[2] Tseng RH, Wu RH, Huang CC. Model study of a shoreline wave-power system. Ocean Eng 2000;27:80121. [3] Weber JW, Thomas GP. An investigation into the importance of the air chamber design of an oscillating water column wave energy device. In: Proceedings of the 11th international offshore and polar engineering conference & exhibition, June 1722, 2001, Staranger, Norway. ISOPE 2001, ISBN:1880653516, 9781880653517. [4] Setoguchi T, Takao M. Current status of self rectifying air turbines for wave energy conversion. Energy Convers Manage 2006;47:238296. [5] Kim TH, Takao M, Setoguchi T, Kaneko K, Inoue M. Performance comparison of turbines for wave power conversion. Int J Thermal Sci 2001;40:6819. [6] Falcao AF de O. The shoreline OWC wave power plant at the Azores. In: Proceedings of the fourth European wave energy conference, 4th6th December 2000, Aalborg, Denmark, (paper B1). Published by Energy Centre Denmark, Danish Technological Institute, DK-2630 Tastrup, ISBN:87-90074-09-02. [7] Setoguchi T, Santhakumar S, Takao M, Kanako K. A performance study of a radial turbine for wave energy conversion. J Power Energy 2002;216: Part A:1522. [8] Castro Ruiz F, El Marjani A, Rodriguez MA, Parra Santos T. Viscous ow analysis in a radial impulse turbine for OWC wave energy systems. In: Seventh European wave and tidal energy conference (EWTEC 2007), 1114 September 2007, Porto, Portugal /http://www.ewtec2007.com.ptS.

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