2DOPE - dynamical analysis of an inertial wave energy converter

The ever-increasing limitation of fossil hydrocarbons combined with a growing awareness of the effects that non-renewable energy sources have had and continue to have on our planet, has in recent decades led to a rapid development of renewable energy sources, opening the doors to study and diffusion of new technologies capable of harvesting energy from the surrounding environment and converting it into electricity. Alongside the much better known wind and solar energy, there is a branch of renewable energy that is decidedly less widespread and developed, but with enormous potential: sea waves. In fact, these represent a potential continuous source of energy, much more predictable than wind and sun. Numerous devices already exist, functioning or in the testing phase, but most of these exploit one, or at most two, of the degrees of freedom provided by wave motion. Polytechnic of Turin, through the MOREnergy lab research center, has already developed several concepts of offshore platforms capable of exploiting this resource more thoroughly, but all these devices are active, equipped with a controller to optimize production. The new 2DOPE concept consists of a completely passive solution. The main objective of this thesis is to build an accurate model on Simulink to perform a series of software-in-the-loop simulations that aim to study the dynamic response of the platform, verifying its stability and carrying out an initial estimate of production as sea conditions vary. To complete this process it is necessary to first execute a series of simulations aimed at choosing values for the platform parameters and studying their response to simple inputs, and then verifying the response to a wave profile more similar to that of the sea. The conclusions produced by this paper can be used as a basis for more in-depth studies on this device or similar ones, and will help to establish whether 2DOPE can be considered a valid alternative to existing devices.