Influence of a Plate Apparatus Inclination on the Available Hydropneumatic Power of an Oscillating Water Column Device Using Constructal Design

Developing clean energy technologies to harness ocean waves remains a key engineering challenge. In this context, the influence of geometry on the performance of an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter through the Constructal Design method is investigated. The objective is to maximize available hydropneumatic power when the system is subjected to full-scale regular waves. An inclined plate apparatus was inserted at the bottom of the OWC to evaluate its performance at inclinations of 0°, 20°, 40°, 60°, 80°, and 90° relative to the vertical direction. A validated and verified computational model based on the finite volume method was employed. The multiphase volume of fluid model was applied to handle air–water interaction. Results showed that the highest hydropneumatic power was achieved at 80°, which is 30.47% superior than the worst case with 0°.