Experimental and numerical modeling of the power take-off of a wave energy converter

Les travaux présentés portent sur l'étude du power take off d'un système houlomoteur. Celui-ci est constitué d'un ensemble de bassins connectés entre eux via des clapets souples assurant une circulation à sens unique. Les mouvements de la plate-forme sur laquelle le système est installé induisent un phénomène de ballottement du fluide présent dans ces bassins. Les vagues ainsi générées viennent alors alimenter une cuve cylindrique dont le fond est percé d'un orifice central. Le fluide injecté dans ce réservoir engendre un écoulement de type tourbillon de vidange, dont l’énergie cinétique est extraite par une turbine à axe vertical. La première phase de ces travaux se concentre sur l'étude expérimentale du tourbillon de vidange en écoulement stationnaire. L'évolution du champ de vitesse dans le bassin, avec et sans turbine, est étudié par particle image velocimetry (PIV). En parallèle, la puissance délivrée par la turbine et la hauteur d'eau dans le bassin sont mesurées. Ces résultats sont utilisés pour définir les hypothèses de départ pour la création d'un modèle numérique. La deuxième phase de ces travaux porte sur l'étude expérimentale du tourbillon de vidange en écoulement instationnaire. Un second dispositif de mesure est spécialement construit et instrumenté. Ce dernier permet de modéliser plus fidèlement l'écoulement rencontré dans le système houlomoteur. La méthode PIV est de nouveau utilisée. La dernière phase des travaux porte sur la modélisation numérique de la turbine à axe vertical. Le modèle développé se fonde sur la théorie des écoulements potentiels et prend en compte les effets 3D. Les résultats obtenus sont comparés aux résultats expérimentaux.The present work aims at studying the power take-off of a wave energy converter (WEC). This system is composed of a set of connected tanks. Rubber flaps are installed at tanks inlet and outlet to ensure a one-way flow direction. Thanks to wave induced motions of the supporting platform, sloshing appears inside the WEC tanks which feed a cylindrical basin with a centered drain hole at its bottom. Then, a bathtub vortex flow appears within this tank, where a vertical axis turbine is installed to harvest kinetic energy from the flow. The first phase of this research focuses on studying the steady bathtub flow. To do so, a dedicated experiment is built. Velocity field within the cylindrical basin, with and without the turbine, is studied via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). In addition, power production from the turbine and water level inside the tank are measured. These results are used to define starting hypothesis for developing a numerical model of the turbine. The second phase of this research focuses on studying the unsteady bathtub flow. For this purpose, a second experiment is built. This setup provides a more realistic environment, closer to what can be observed with the WEC system. PIV measurements are also used extensively to study the flow with and without the turbine. The last stage of this research focuses on the numerical modelling of the vertical axis turbine. The model is based on the potential flow theory. First, a two-dimensional approach is used to validate the early pieces of the model. Secondly, a three-dimensional approach is adopted to account for more complex flow features. Finally, numerical and experiment results are compared

Outil d'évaluation d'économies de carburant pour la propulsion par cerf-volant des navires marchands

International audienceA tool dedicated to assess fuel economy induced by kite propulsion has been developed. To produce reliable results, computations must be performed on a period over several years, for several routes and for several ships. In order to accurately represent the impact of meteorological trends variations on the exploitability of the kite towing concept, a time domain approach of the problem has been used. This tool is based on the weather database provided by the ECMWF. Two sailing strategies can be selected for assessing the performance of the kite system. For a given kite area, the simulation can be run either at constant speed or at constant engine power. A validation has been made, showing that predicted consumption is close from in-situ measurement. It shows an underestimation of 11.9% of the mean fuel consumption mainly due to auxiliary consumption and added resistance in waves that were not taken into account. To conclude, a case study is performed on a 2200 TEU container ship equipped with an 800m² kite on a transatlantic route between Halifax and Le Havre. Round trip simulations, performed over 5 years of navigation, show that the total economy predicted is of around 12% at a speed of 16 knots and around 6.5% at a speed of 19 knots