The crisis of fossil fuel depletion an‎d increasing environmental concerns have led to a growing interest in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, an‎d ocean waves. Due to their high energy density an‎d availability throughout most of the day, ocean waves hold significant potential for power generation. Nevertheless, wave energy harvesting technologies have not yet fully matured an‎d face several challenges, including the irregular nature of waves, the corrosive marine environment, the complexity of power extraction system design, an‎d the multidisciplinary nature of modeling, all of which require advanced analytical approaches. These systems involve diverse physical domains such as ocean wave modeling, fluid–structure interaction, energy conversion, an‎d complex control strategies. This study aims to investigate the hydrodynamic behavior an‎d performance of a two-body point absorber wave energy converter using a combination of numerical an‎d experimental methods. In the numerical approach, hydrodynamic coefficients an‎d wave-induced forces were computed using the boundary element method (BEM) implemented in ANSYS AQWA. Experimentally, a test platform based on radiation an‎d diffraction theories was designed an‎d constructed, enabling the extraction of hydrodynamic coefficients under realistic conditions. Comparison of the numerical an‎d experimental results showed that the BEM accurately calculated added mass, radiation damping, an‎d wave excitation forces. Total damping for both bodies was also experimentally extracted. The findings indicate that viscous damping can be neglected for the floating body but must be considered for the submerged body. In this study, viscous damping for the submerged body was assumed to be linear. High-amplitude testing revealed that this assumption could overestimate the equivalent wave excitation force—representing energy transfer to the harvester—by up to 15% at a frequency of 0.6 Hz. This discrepancy is lower at other frequencies. The converter’s performance was assessed in both frequency an‎d time domains for regular an‎d irregular waves, considering linear an‎d rotational power take-off (PTO) systems. The results showed that neglecting viscous damping for the submerged body could overestimate the average absorbed power by up to threefold. The effect of internal friction in the rotational PTO mechanism on harvested power was also investigated. Simulated results showed a 15–20% discrepancy compared to experimental data, which may be due to neglecting power losses in the generator. The systemʹs performance under irregular waves was also analyzed using the open-source WEC-Sim code. It was found that an optimized converter for a specific location in the Strait of Hormuz could harvest an average of 2800 watts of power. In summary, the findings of this study provide a foundation for the design, optimization, an‎d development of high-efficiency wave energy converters an‎d contribute significantly to reducing design costs an‎d accelerating the commercialization of this technology.

جمشيد پرويزيان , شهريار منصورزاده

احمدرضا پيشه وراصفهاني , عليرضا فدائي تهراني , علي لقماني , محمود فغفور مغربي