Experimental Assessment of a Fixed On-Shore Oscillating Water Column Device: Case Study on Oman Sea

Abstract

Ocean wave is one of the renewable energy resources that these days various devices are used to extract its energy. Oscillating Water Column (OWC) installed on the shore is one of the wave energy absorption systems which has received attention due to its simple structure. Investigation of the pneumatic power is of great importance in such systems as the conversion of wave energy to pneumatic energy is the first step in OWCs' energy conversion cycle. This study aims to assess the power available in a fixed onshore OWC plant according to the wave characteristics of the Oman Sea on the shores of Chabahar. For this purpose, a small-scale model of OWC was tested in the wave tank, and its pneumatic power was evaluated. In these experiments, the effects of various parameters including incident wave height and frequency, the front wall draft and the orifice diameter on the pneumatic power were investigated. The results show that increasing the wave height generally increases the pneumatic power; however, variations of power with the draft depends on the incident wave frequencies. The maximum achieved capture performance and maximum generated pneumatic power of the model are 18% and 0.7 watts, respectively.