Emulating Wave Energy Converter operation in irregular waves using a robotized dry test rig

Wave Energy Converter (WEC) technology has for a long time captured the interest of researchers, in the strive to increase and diversify the share of renewables in our global energy system. The development of WECs is however challenging due to the time-consuming and expensive open sea experiments required. Controlled wave tank testing is therefore often used, but suffer from the limited availability, scale and wave conditions that can be achieved. Another option is dry test rigs, utilizing a mechanical actuator to emulate WEC operation in ocean waves. Achieving realistic tests is however a challenge. This work focuses on a robotized dry test rig, providing a cost-effective, industrial and flexible test concept for one-body and two-body emulation of point-absorber WECs in all six degree of freedom. A numerical linear potential flow hydrodynamic force model for simulating the motions in irregular waves is presented and evaluated against wave tank experiments, before being implemented on the robot controller. Test rig experiments based on a simulated WEC damping force and assuming a one-body system acting purely in heave are presented. We successfully demonstrated WEC operation emulation in irregular waves with the robot test rig, and were also able to evaluate its accuracy. It can be concluded that the robot performs well in relation to the numerical model, while the numerical model performs satisfying mainly for smaller and non-steep waves. Further work is therefore suggested on expanding the emulation to several degrees of freedom and also to include a physical WEC power take-off unit.