Numerical investigation on energy harvesting of four submerged cylinders with different cross-sections in tandem arrangement

The influence of the submerged cylinder of different cross sections (Circle prism, Cir-Tria prism, Octagon prism, and Pentagon prism) on wave energy conversion is studied by changing the structure of the windward and the leeward sides under four different wave heights (H = 0.01m, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15 m). The two-dimensional Reynolds average Navier–Stokes equations and the Shear Stress Transport k-ω turbulence model are used to establish the flow field. The volume of fluid method is adopted to simulate the free surface. Meanwhile, the Newmark-β method to solve the motion of the cylinders. The amplitude ratio of most cylinders decreases and tends toward horizontal with increasing wave height. The maximum amplitude ratio increases by 68.70%. The converted power gradually increases because of the increasing wave height. At the same time, the conversion efficiency shows a trend of decreasing and then increasing with increasing wave height. For the cross sections, the sharp structures on the leeward side disperse the vortices, thereby suppressing the motion response and energy harvesting to some extent.