Energy harvesting and wave attenuation performance of a floating flexible annulus-shaped wave energy converter

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Teng, Zhiyuan and Cheng, Yong and Dai, Saishuai and Yuan, Zhiming and Incecik, Atilla (2026) Energy harvesting and wave attenuation performance of a floating flexible annulus-shaped wave energy converter. Ocean Engineering, 358. 125872. ISSN 0029-8018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2026.125872)

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Abstract

Leveraging generalized elastic deformations of floating flexible structures for efficient wave energy harvesting and wave attenuation offers an innovative approach to marine energy development. This study proposes a novel multifunctional device, consisting of a floating flexible annular wave energy converter with an array of power take-off (PTO) units beneath it, capable of capturing incident wave energy while effectively attenuating waves in the interior water region. To investigate hydroelastic effects during energy harvesting and wave attenuation, a three-dimensional numerical wave tank (NWT) is developed, coupling the Finite Element Method (FEM) for structural modeling with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate two-phase flow, enabling high-precision analysis. Fully bidirectional fluid–structure interaction is achieved through time-step interface mapping. After model validation, a comprehensive parametric study is performed. Results show that multi-modal elastic deformation leads to an increase of up to 87% in the overall capture width ratio, along with an approximately 30% improvement in interior quiescence, compared with its rigid counterpart. Concentrating PTO units on the seaside promotes early energy dissipation, enhancing wave attenuation. Additionally, moderate PTO coverage combined with a reduced geometric opening ratio broadens the effective bandwidth for energy capture while further stabilizing the interior water region. These findings highlight the potential of elastic floating structures for high-efficiency, multifunctional wave energy systems.

ORCID iDs

Teng, Zhiyuan, Cheng, Yong, Dai, Saishuai ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9666-6346, Yuan, Zhiming ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9908-1813 and Incecik, Atilla ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8895-1717;
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