Efficiency Optimization of OWC Wave Energy Converters by Incident Flow Steering

In recent years, the interest in capturing wave energy has increased notably due to the immense potential available and the need to deepen and diversify the use of renewable energies. Oscillating Water Column (OWC) technology is one of the most technologically developed, with the world's first grid-connected demonstration plant located in Mutriku. However, the efficiency of this technology is still insufficient for its consolidation in the energy mix. Therefore, the present work presents an advance in the increase in the extraction of energy from the incident waves through the installation of a frontal ramp that directs the wave flow towards the vertical chamber of the oscillating column. The improvement achieved will be determined by means of a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) 2D scaled model, which represents the interaction of the structure with different incident wave states. Different geometric options of the ramp are analyzed in comparison with the usual vertical wall option where the phenomenon of pure reflection occurs. This work aims to contribute to improving the efficiency of OWC technology, favoring the use of wave energy as a renewable energy source. Keywords: Oscillating Water Column (OWC), wave energy converter (WEC), Response Amplitude Operator (RAO), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), wave energy