To optimize the energy capture efficiency of the oscillating buoy wave energy converter, the effect of the bottom shape of the cylindrical buoy on the energy capture is studied. The commonly used oscillating buoys with the flat bottom, the cone bottom, and the hemispheric bottom are selected for comparison. Firstly, the frequency-domain model of the buoy motion is established. Then, the hydrodynamic parameters of these three buoy types, such as the added mass, the radiation damping, the wave excitation force, and the response amplitude operator, are calculated by ANSYS-AQWA software and compared. Finally, the resistive control is put into the frequency-domain motion model to investigate the energy capture efficiency of the buoys of different bottom shapes under the wave excitation. The results show that the resistive control could significantly improve the energy capture efficiency of the buoys. The hemispherical bottom buoy has a higher energy capture efficiency under wider wave spectrum conditions, while the flat bottom buoy is more suitable when the wave spectrum peak frequency is close to its natural frequency and the wave spectrum is narrow.

wave energy converter  /  oscillating buoy  /  hydrodynamic  /  frequency-domain model  /  resistive control