CFD Simulation and Experimental Study of a New Elastic Blade Wave Energy Converter

Small moving vehicles represent an important category of marine engineering tools and devices (equipment) typically used for ocean resource detection and maintenance of marine rights and interests. The lack of efficient power supply modes is one of the technical bottlenecks restricting the effective utilisation of this type of equipment. In this work, the performance characteristics of a new type of elastic-blade/wave-energy converter (EBWEC) and its core energy conversion component (named wave energy absorber) are comprehensively studied. In particular, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experiments have been used to analyze the hydrodynamics and performance characteristics of the EBWEC. The pressure cloud diagrams relating to the surface of the elastic blade were obtained through two-way fluid-solid coupling simulations. The influence of blade thickness and relative speed on the performance characteristics of EBWEC was analyzed accordingly. A prototype of the EBWEC and its bucket test platform were also developed. The power characteristics of the EBWEC were analyzed and studied by using the blade thickness and motion cycle as control variables. The present research shows that the EBWEC can effectively overcome the performance disadvantages related to the transmission shaft torque load and power curve fluctuations of rigid blade wave energy converters (RBWEC).