ir. Brecht Devolder wins 2 awards at the 15th FEA Research Symposium 2014
At the 15th edition of the FEA Research Symposium at Ghent University, Brecht Devolder was the winner of two awards (supervisors: Prof. Peter Troch and Prof. Pieter Rauwoens):
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Poster Laureate selected by the Poster Award Committee.
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Best poster Award presented by Doctoral Schools.
Abstract of Brecht Devolder
Wave energy from ocean waves is absorbed by using Wave Energy Converters (WECs). In order to extract a considerable amount of wave power at a location in a cost-effective way, large numbers of WECs are arranged in farms using a particular geometrical configuration. Interactions between the individual WECs (near field effects) affect the overall power production of the farm. One should avoid, for instance, that one WEC is positioned in the wake region of another WEC. The wave height reduction behind an entire WEC farm (far field effects) affects other users in the sea, the environment or even the coastline.
By using a coupled numerical modeling, we aim to develop a methodology (and a related numerical tool) to answer the fundamental underlying questions on farm design: finding the optimal and cost-effective configurations of WEC farms for power production, and quantifying the related environmental impact. A numerical model, suited for near field effects will be developed and validated. It will be combined with a numerical model suited for predicting far field effects for two purposes: to reduce the computational cost of the near field model and to get more accurate results of the far field effect of WECs.
