Laboratory Experiments on Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converters Integrated in a Very Large Floating Structure

This paper presents first results coming from a ongoing research project aiming at the conceptual design of a Very Large Floating Structure equipped with Oscillating Water Column Devices. The assessment of the hydraulic efficiency of the OWC is evaluated by means of an experimental study conducted on a scaled model tested in the wave-current flume of Florence University. The study has been conducted by varying some design parameter such as the size of the OWC chamber, the lip drought and the simulated turbine damping. The preliminary analysis presented in this paper is the first step on the evaluation of the hydraulic efficiency of the tested OWCs.