Pulsating flow discharge measurements inside a wave energy converter at sea

THis paper describes an original technique adopted for measuring the water discharge flowing inside a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) device. The investigated system represents a small scale model of a plant belonging to the family of Oscillating Water Columns (OWCs). Measuring the pulsating water discharge through the plant is necessary for calculating the absorbed wave energy. Conventional measurements techniques are not applicable to this case, due to the large size of WEC conduits and the harsh operational environment. The technique adopted to measure the pulsating water discharge inside the WEC is based on the estimation of particle acceleration inside the water column, starting from simultaneous pressure measurements along the streamline. The effectiveness of the method is checked by measuring the instantaneous position of the air-water interface inside the plenum.