Learning Forum

[JohnWEC]

Hello, I have a question about modeling a power take-off system for a point absorber(Wave energy converter) in ansys AQWA. Also, is there a way to calculate the recovered energy using the software?

Thank you very much.

[Mike Pettit]

In the simplest case, you could include an Additional Damping matrix for the structure, where the additional force due to this damping can be recorded by adding a Structure Forces > Linear Damping Only plot to the time domain Solution in Aqwa Workbench.
For more complex systems, you can connect the time domain Aqwa solver to a Python server, and write your own user-defined force function to model the additional force which is applied to the structure due to the power take-off system. You can find examples and instructions in your installation, in C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v221\aqwa\utils\ExternalForceCalculation (changing the version number in this path as necessary).
Cheers, Mike