SSG Offshore

The purpose of the project is to define the main overall characteristics of a floating SSG wave energy converter for offshore installation. The objectives for the achievement of this purpose are to calculate forces on different structure geometries, to calculate amplitude of motions for different structure geometries, to identify the more stable structure with good survivability and overtopping performance and to evaluate the influence of different parameters in the energy capture. The numerical model SHIPSIM is a valuable tool to investigate the behavior of a floating structure and the overall forces acting on it. This will be used to identify the overall dimensions and best geometry in terms of stability and survivability. The actual outputs of the program are forces on the structure, movements (surge, sway and heave) and the added mass; from this last output is possible to calculate the amplitude of motion. Approximately 10 different geometries will be tested. The study through numerical simulations have been chosen as the cost of building a large number of physical models to be tested in the laboratory and the time needed to accomplish this task are inefficient. Once that the basic geometry will be identified, further analysis will quantify the influence of different parameters on the overtopping and on the energy production.