Three-dimensional Numerical Simulation of Airflow in Oscillating Water Column Device

An Oscillating Water Column (OWC) is a wave energy converting technology that uses the compressed and decompressed airflow induced by the vertical oscillations of water column inside the chamber as a driving force of an airflow turbine. In this study, three-dimensional numerical simulations of a bottom-fixed OWC are performed to understand the interaction of an OWC device with regular waves. The open-source CFD model REEF3D is used, which is able to consider immiscible two-phases (air and water) using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The simulation capability of REEF3D is validated by comparison with experimental data for wave deformations caused by the OWC and air-flow fields and the airflow velocity in the chamber. The numerical results revealed that the CFD numerical tool REEF3D can successfully simulate wave deformations caused by wave-OWC interactions, and directly estimate an air velocity inside the chamber. In addition, it was found that a phase difference occurs between time series of free surface evolution and air velocity evolution.