Monitoring of the U-OWC under construction in Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy)

The first full scale prototype of a U-Oscillating Water Column is currently under construction in the Port of Civitavecchia (the Port of Rome, Italy). In this context, the objective of such an infrastructure is to create a save area with the additional feature of improving the quality of vessel navigation in comparison with classical vertical breakwaters. The area of Civitavecchia is currently under monitoring. Indeed, wave data are acquired by two buoys located offshore the port. Further, a specific chamber of a U-OWC will be equipped with pressure transducers, ultrasonic and laser probes for monitoring the plant in operative conditions. This paper proposes a prospect on the monitoring of this particular system by estimating the relevant quantities to be recorded by the instruments. In addition, considering the fact that one cell will be equipped with a Wells turbine, power curves are defined for identifying optimal reference rotational speeds in conjunction with given sea state statistics.