Towards a Comprehensive Design Tool for Flexible Wave Energy Converters: Multiphysics-Augmented SPH-Based Framework

The next generation of wave energy converters (WECs) will most likely embed flexible parts in their structure, machinery, or conversion unit, aiming at bringing down production and maintenance costs. To support such development trends and predict hydroelastic behavior of future Flexible WECs (FlexWECs) at sea, an advanced numerical framework is presented here, grounded on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The open source SPH-based DualSPHysics augmented with Chrono hosts the development and implementation of a lumped parameter discretization to solve the coupled elastic fluid-structure interaction in compliant hinged plates, leveraging the capabilities of co-rotational structural dynamics within a dynamic Lagrangian framework. Theoretical and numerical benchmarks are provided to validate the method, and an outlook on a FlexWEC concept is also given to showcase the solver capabilities.