Buoy Stabilizer & Wave Energy Converter
K Najjar & A Nouraldeen
Mechanical Engineering::
M Liermann, O Samhoury, S Atshan
Funding:
American University of Beirut
10,000 USD University Research Board
63,000 USD Office of the Dean, FEA
The research is a design exploration of buoyant structures on open sea dedicated to dwelling on water. The task was to explore and develop concepts for buoyant structures that utilizes damping plates to stabilize and harness wave energy without anchoring the structure physically to the bottom of the sea or to the land. The design research started with understanding and collecting case studies from the oil and gas offshore industries, wave energy harnessing technologies and offshore floating wind farms.
The research aims to create effective stable buoyant platforms (foundation) independent of sea depth and seabed. Using hybrid different concepts:
- Buoyancy stabilized
- Ballast Stabilized
- Underwater damping plate stabilized
The main idea was to submerge damping plates from a buoy into lower deeper water where waves have a lower energy level. The buoys are held horizontally place as the buoys are held back from lifting because the water needs to be displaced around the plates in the submerged area. A further goal is creating potential difference between these more stable platforms and the free-floating part to generate kinetic movement harnessed from sea waves.
The research was conducted through numerical calculations and computational simulations as empirical studies in water tanks and the open sea. Results proved that the lift of the buoys could be reduced and that the stress generated could be utilized for harnessing energy.
