Working Owc

Dr.K.Thiruvenkataswamy,Dr.Eng.,M.S., B.E.,MISTE.
Professor & Head

Department of Harbour Engineering & Offshore Technology
AMET UNIVERSITY

INORE 2012 DENMARK
Energy from sea waves is one of the most promising
sources of renewable energy which is also
environment-friendly.
The obvious energy content of the waves has long
attracted inventors.
Several hundreds of patents for wave energy
conversion device have been registered worldwide.
But only few are developed as prototype
Of the several patents registered, Oscillating Water
Column(OWC) wave power device is considered as
one of the most promising.
INORE 2012 DENMARK

An OWC (Oscillating Water Column) Device consists of a
chamber exposed to wave action through an opening in the
front.
Under wave action, air inside the chamber gets compressed
and rarified, and energy from this bi-directional air flow is
absorbed using a pneumatic turbine.
The performance of the device improves considerably by the
introduction of a pair of parallel guide walls (harbour walls) in
front.
The OWC can be made to resonate to any incident wave
frequency by selecting the appropriate dimension of the
device.
Thus, the choice of the dimensions is critical and they are
arrived through site specific theoretical and experimental
investigations.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

Present Study

Wave induced hydrodynamic forces on
1:25 scale model of the Indian 150kW
prototype Oscillating Water Column
(OWC) wave energy caisson have been
analyzed.
This paper shall give a detailed account
on stability analysis of OWC caisson
against sliding and overturning.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

Falco & Sarmento(1980) - Hydrodynamic modeling of OWC
devices
Falnes & McIver (1985) - system composed of oscillating
bodies and oscillating pressure distributions

Takahashi (1988) has given a detailed account on the
development of a wave power extracting caisson breakwater in
Japan. The device consists of an air chamber, attached to an
ordinary caisson. A vertical wall with slits is provided in order
to transmit wave energy into the chamber. The dynamic
pressures measured inside the OWC chamber and on the
sloping walls are found to compare well with the theory of
Goda (1985).

Ravindran et al, 1989, Joyce et al, 1993 two-dimensions with
simplified geometries

Hotta et al (1986) - operational tests conducted on the plant
Coastal Structures2011, 5-9,September Yohohama,JAPAN
Muller and Whittaker (1993) have measured the
wave induced pressures on the lip wall of a 1:36
wave energy caisson model of the Isle of Islay, for
different lip wall inclinations. It is concluded that
the highest pressure could be expected for a 5 to
10 degree forward inclined lip wall.

Whittaker and Stewart (1993) - experimental
studies on hydrodynamic efficiency of an OWC in a
fully reflecting coastline

Jayakumar (1994) - wave forces on an isolated
MOWC caisson

Sarmento and Brito-Melo (1995) - Azores OWC
Pico power plant

Coastal Structures 2011 Yohohama
Clement (1996) used a two dimensional numerical wave tank to
compute the non-linear radiation step response of OWC wave
power plants.

Lee et al (1996) - to determine the hydrodynamic parameters
affecting the design and performance of the system.

Brito Melo et al (1999) - extended version of AQUADYN

Brito-Melo et al., (2000) - 3D Boundary Element Method (BEM) -
code AQUADYN based on linear theory.

Ei-Hafid Tabet-Aoul and Eloi Lambert (2003) - maximum Horizontal
wave forces acting on Perforated Caisson. Goda
Takahashi formula (Takahashi and Shimosako 1994) has been
compared, and found that the new formula is cost effective

Le Crom et al (2009) - the OWC Pico plant monitored by WavEC
since 2005 - AQUADYN-OWC.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

By nature, wave energy devices are placed in regions of high
incident wave power, which is normally related to very rough
sea states that have to be considered for the survivability
design.

Active R & D on wave energy system development is in full
swing in many European countries. The wave energy research
becomes more active in many other countries also, particularly,
in U.S.A., Canada & Australia.

Hence, establishing significant and useful contributions on
wave loading on OWC wave power caisson breakwater would
certainly benefit the engineering groups engaged in wave
power system development.

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The main aim of the study is to determine
Hydrodynamic stability of the device against
hostile wave climate.

It is achieved through a detailed
experimental investigation in the laboratory
on wave induced forces and moments due to
the action of regular waves.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

Based on the OWC principle, a 150 KW wave energy device
has been installed off the South West Coast of India near
Trivandrum, in the Arabian Sea.

It is a reinforced cement concrete (RCC) caisson of size 23.2
m x 17.0 m in plan and 15.3 m high, consisting of a bottom
box, a back wall, two side wall, a lip and two harbour walls
in front.

The walls and lip are of cellular construction. On top is a
concrete dome, which supports the power module.

The caisson is installed at a mean water depth of 10.45 m in
front of a rubble mound breakwater of a harbour.
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Typical plots of normalized force, F
n
which is defined
below, Kb = 0.95 and 1.37 under closed and opened
condition are given in Fig .2 and Fig.3.

Where F
max
, F
min
are respectively the maximum and
minimum inline force, l and b are the length and breadth of
the caisson at SWL.
The force is compared with the theoretical prediction for
rectangular caisson.

In general, the normalized force increases with wave steepness.

Under closed condition, the increase in shoreward force is generally
non-linear.

While the shoreward force is higher than the theoretical prediction
for rectangular caisson, the seaward force correlates well with the
theory.

Similar correlation as discussed above is observed under opened
condition.

But the theoretical prediction for rectangular caisson over-estimates
the measured shoreward and seaward force.

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
F
n

H / L
SHOREWARD
SEAWARD
______ THEORY (RECTANGULAR)
ORIFICE CLOSED, Kb = 1.37
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
F
n

H / L
SHOREWARD
SEAWARD
______ THEORY (RECTANGULAR)
ORIFICE OPENED, Kb = 1.37
Variation of Normalized Inline Force with wave steepness for
OWC(Closed and opened) Caisson Model
INORE 2012 DENMARK

For a structure symmetric about its transverse axis(for OWC), the
theoretical value of effective moment coefficient C
mm
, which is defined
as below, and effective inline inertia coefficient, C
m
based on linear
wave theory should be the same and verified experimentally for a
rectangular caisson.

Where, M
max
and M
min
are respectively the maximum and minimum
inline moments; H is the incident wave height; l and b are the length
and breadth of Caisson; d is the water depth.
(
+ =
ksinhkd
1
ktanhkd
1
d tanhkd 0.5.5g M or M C
min max mm

INORE 2012 DENMARK

Fig.4. shows the plot of variation of C
mm
with kb under opened
condition of orifice.

In this condition, the values of effective moment coefficient are higher
than those derived from the total inline force.

It is found that under closed condition of orifice, the lever arm of the
inline force is less when compared to opened condition.

This can be further explained from lever arm graph.

The lever arm is estimated from the ratio of the maximum moment to
the corresponding maximum inline force in a record.

Fig.5. shows the lever arm factor, l
z
/d, (where, l
z
, is the lever arm
distance from the base of the structure) with relative water depth for
an OWC caisson under opened condition of orifice.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
l

z

/

d

d / L
SHOREWARD
EXPTS.(ORIFICE OPENED)
_____ THEORY (RECTANGULAR)
0
1
2
3
4
0 1 2 3 4
C
m
m

Kb
SHOREWARD
EXPTS.(ORIFICE OPENED)
____ THEORY (RECTANGULAR)
For the estimation of the stability of the OWC caisson model the Factor
of Safety (F.S) should be calculated. For the good stability of the
caisson model the value of Factor of Safety should be greater than
one. The factor of safety for the sliding failure can be calculated using
the formula,

(3)

Where W is the dry weight of the caisson, B is the buoyancy, is the
Permeability coefficient ( = 0.5), U is the uplift force and F
max
, F
min
are
respectively the maximum and minimum inline force.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

The uplift force can be calculated using the Goda formula given below.

(4)

Where,

Where, k is the wave number (2/L, L- wave length), H
max
is the
maximum wave height, is the angle between the direction of wave
approach and a line normal to the breakwater, h
s
is the water depth
in front of the breakwater, h
c
is the height from the Still Water Level
(SWL) to the top of the caisson, 1,3 is the impulsive pressure
coefficient.

() = 0.51 + 1 3

1 = 0.6 + 0.5 ((2 )/ 2 )
3 = 1 (( )/ )(1 (1/ ))

INORE 2012 DENMARK

In general, Factor of safety is higher in the seaward and lower in the
shoreward for both the OWC Caisson and the Rectangular Caisson.

The Factor of Safety is compared with the orifice opened and closed
condition of the OWC caisson.

The stability is more when the orifice of the OWC Caisson is opened.

The full closing of OWC orifice should be avoided to enhance the
stability of the Caisson.

For higher values of H/L, the Factor of Safety is almost same for OWC
(closed), OWC (opened) and for Rectangular Caisson.

However, this needs further investigations for non-linear wave impact.

INORE 2012 DENMARK

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
F
.
S

H / L
H / L vs F.S
SHOREWARD
SEAWARD
(ORIFICE OPENED)

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
F
.
S

H / L
H / L vs F.S
SHOREWARD
SEAWARD
(ORIFICE CLOSED)

INORE 2012 DENMARK

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0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08
F
.
S

H / L
H/L vs F.S
SEAWARD
SHOREWARD
(RECTANGULAR CAISSON)
In general, Factor of Safety against sliding is higher in seaward and
lower in the shoreward for both the OWC Caisson and the Rectangular
Caisson.

The stability is more when the orifice of the OWC Caisson is opened.
The full closing of OWC orifice should be avoided to enhance the
stability of the Caisson.

For higher values of H/L, the Factor of Safety against sliding is almost
same for OWC (closed), OWC (opened) and for Rectangular Caisson.
However, this needs further investigations for non-linear wave impact.

The Factor of Safety against overturning is found to be conservative.
More numerical and physical modeling are essentially recommended for
solitary waves and random waves.
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The authors wish to acknowledge the State Key
Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River
Engineering, Sichuan University, China for
funding (Fund Ref.No: SKLH-OF-0902) to do
this research work. The first author
acknowledges the AMET University, Chennai,
India to provide the additional facilities.
INORE 2012 DENMARK

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Dr.K.Thiruvenkataswamy,Dr.Eng.,M.S., B.E.,MISTE.

Professor & Head

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