Engineering Commons^™

The Performance Analysis And Optimization Of Wave Energy Converters From Modeling To Basin Testing, Lauren Dickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The successful development and optimization of wave energy converters (WECs) are pivotal to the pursuit of sustainable and renewable energy sources. This thesis explores the elements in a workflow that develops and demonstrates the protocols for the optimization of WECs using a rapid design\build\test procedure. This thesis establishes the characterization of scaled ocean test sites, develops the performance metrics, generates the performance modeling techniques to predict the optimum design geometries which will be produced for final testing, and finally, establishes the basin test plan which will be used to conduct the testing on the optimum design. The findings of this …