Abstract
As well as inflicting harm upon to the environment through the production of green house gases and harmful to people through fires, oil spills and toxic ashes; fossil fuels are also a limited resource with a rising cost. Additionally, society as a whole has become completely dependent on the current energy supply from fossil fuels. These contributing factors have led toward an increased interest in renewable clean energy. While some forms have existed for centuries, such as hydropower, other forms are in their developmental infancy, including ocean energy. Wave energy converters (WECs) harness the kinetic and potential energies in the ocean waves and convert them to useable electric energy via either turbines or hydraulic pumps. Although several different types of WECs are being developed today, only a few models have made it to the commercial market. The first to do so was the Pelamis P1model by Pelamis Wave Power Ltd. Since then, Pelamis Wave Power has developed a new and improved Pelamis P2 model. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the optimum size and number of tubes for the Pelamis P2 WEC. The overall length is kept constant at 180 m in an attempt to keep standardized the amount of raw materials used in the construction of the WEC. Simulations using the following software are performed to study the energy absorption at the nodes between the tubes: ANSYS Workbench, Design Modeler, and AQWA. The control model is the current P2 WEC in production. It consists of five tubes, each 36 m long with a 4 m diameter. The first set of tests is conducted to reduce the number of tubes and increase their length. The second set of tests is used to increase the number of tubes and decrease their length. The third set of tests select the optimum tube number between the control, first and second test sets and vary the size of tubes from small to large, large to small, small on the ends and large in the center, and large on the ends and small in the center. After a systematic study, the optimum size of the Pelamis P2 is recommended.