SPH Modeling of OWCs With Pneumatic PTO: Investigation on Chamber Models and Turbine Models

Abstract Recent research has highlighted the need for including realistic power take-off (PTO) model for oscillating water column (OWC) devices, including proper turbine modeling. In this work, a single-phase SPH-based method is presented to simulate the effect of varying air pressure on water free surface in a OWC chamber, herein referred to as “chamber model”. It is developed in the Lagrangian software DualSPHysics, which has a plug&play software interface to host external formulation that can account for turbine models. As for PTO modeling within this implementation, the turbine blades rotational speed has been included by mimicking a tunable diaphragm. Moreover, to step up its practical interest, the presented chamber model features both compressible and incompressible behavior.