| Tartalmi leírás: |
Scaled model tests are an important step during the research and development of
wave energy converters (WECs). While such scaled model tests in physical wave tanks
are prone to undesired scaling effects due to e.g. mechanical artefacts and/or fluid
effects, numerical wave tanks (NWTs) provide excellent tools for the analysis of WECs
across a range of scales, overcoming the limitations of the physical test environment.
Simultaneous scaling based on the Froude and Reynolds number is achievable in physical
wave tanks only with significant effort, whereas NWTs allow the adjustment of fluid
properties, such as viscosity, in an easy manner, thereby catering for Froude and
Reynolds similarity. This study exploits the capabilities of a high-fidelity, computational
fluid dynamics based, NWT and investigates the hydrodynamic scaling effects for the
heaving buoy Wavestar WEC. Various test cases, relevant for WEC applications and
with progressively increasing complexity, are considered to develop a comprehensive
understanding of the scaling effects. Results show that significant scaling effects occur
for the viscous component of the hydrodynamic loads on the WEC hull, while the system
dynamics and total (viscous + pressure) loads are relatively unaffected by scaling effects
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