Motion Response Analysis of Wave Buoy on a Mooring Platform

Abstract

It is a new application for wave energy convertor (WEC) to integrate a point absorber onto a mooring platform in order to provide electricity for instruments in it. Different from an independent device, the wave buoy of this absorber may be influenced by three columns of the platform. This paper firstly introduces the integration of the platform and the WEC, then builds a simplified model in Flow-3D to study the influence of platform columns on the WEC. Four cases with different models under same condition have been studied. Results show that the existing of three columns has a great influence on the flow field distribution around the wave buoy, but does not reduce the motion amplitude of the buoy. So the wave generation device can work normally and supply energy to the platform.