A detailed theoretical modeling and parametric investigation of potential power in heaving buoys

Highlights: • The dynamic behavior of the heaving power buoy was studied realistically. • The effect of buoy mass and angular frequency on potential power was examined. • The coefficient of damping was considered time varying in three case functions. • The buoy did not obediently follow the regular sinusoidal form of the wave. • Potential power was formulated as a function of buoy mass and angular frequency. The present survey was conducted to theoretically envisage the dynamic behavior of general heaving power buoys, aimed at examining the behavior of buoy displacement in a realistic manner as well as obtaining the potential power and scrutinizing the interaction effect of various parameters i.e. water angular frequency and buoy overall mass on potential power. To make it more realistic, the coefficient of damping between heaving buoy and water was considered to be time-varying in three cases and the relative results were compared thoroughly. With the propagation of the wave, the buoy displacement and Submergence Response Delay ($S{r}_D$) were modeled for various considered case functions and compared with undamped system. The potential power was numerically calculated by solving the dynamic motion of the buoy for various buoy masses and angular frequencies of the wave. According to the results, the heaving behavior of the buoy did not obediently follow the regular sinusoidal form of the wave, due to the synchronous effect of dynamic force together with considering time-varying damping. There was no significant difference, still not zero, between the three considered case functions for damping. The $S{r}_D$ values for all the angular frequencies were within the range of −0.5 to 0.5 considering time-varying damping. The potential power of the buoy increased exponentially as the angular frequency increased. Finally, the potential power was formulated as an exponential function of two variables, i.e. buoy mass and angular frequency.