Stability analysis on wave energy converter (WEC) type BDBS's internal structure effects in accordance with IMO standard

Ocean wave energy is one of the most potential sources of renewable energy for fulfilling power requirements since the increment of global warming that led to the change of climates and the rise of temperature. Thus, several projects are being carried out across the world on different Wave Energy Converter (WEC) designs and one of the well-known WEC is the Floating Oscillating Water Column (FOWC) type which is the Backward Bent Duct Buoy (BBDB). The idea of BBDB is now the most researched FOWC device due to the simplicity of geometry, robustness and not costly. However, the capability ofFOWC, on the other hand, has yet to be thoroughly studied and comprehended. Therefore, this project is conducted to analyse the stability condition of BBDB on five load cases that fulfil the IMO requirement by designing the internal structure and scantling of prototype WEC with a scale factor of 1/13. The prototype and the internal design were designed by using Solidworks software and Max.surf Structure. Then, the total load and new displacement had been analysed using Max.surf stability software. From the stability analysis, the results show that load case 1, which is the operational load for BBDB has passed all the IMO criteria with optimum values, followed by load case 4, 50% load, then load case 5, 90% load and next load case 3, 30% and lastly load case 2, 10%. From the observation of all the IMO criteria status at all load cases, only 3 codes that all the load cases have passed. The 3 IMO codes are 3.1.2.2, which is GZ above 30, and 3.1.2.3, which is GZ angle greater than 25 degrees as well, as the angle of steady heel/ deck edge immersion angle shall not be greater than 80%. Therefore, load case I has pass all the IMO criteria status in terms of safety in operational in real condition.