Research on an adaptive-damping-control strategy of wave energy converter by AMESIM/STARCCM+ co-simulation

Wave energy is a potential renewable source in the world. Wave energy converters (WEC) have been designed for converting wave energy to electricity. To realize the engineering application and commercial value of WECs, researchers and engineers aim to get higher efficiency of WECs. This study provides a novel adaptive and variable damping control strategy, which can achieve a fast and real-time matching of the optimal damping in the real sea states. First-order linear waves were established in AMESIM to study power-generation performance under different wave conditions. Hydrodynamic analysis was investigated in STARCCM+, and the convergence studies with respect to the meshes size and time step at the same time. Finally, the results in AMESIM are in sufficient agreement with the results in STARCCM+, which verified the reliability of the analytical process.