PhD Candidates
Eduardo Lopes
Eduardo Lopes develops high-fidelity computational models of oscillating water column wave energy converters at the University of Lisbon's Instituto Superior Técnico, supervised by Prof. António Sarmento — one of the architects of the Pico OWC plant, the world's first grid-connected wave energy device. Eduardo's thesis addresses the longstanding gap between frequency-domain linear potential flow models — which underpredict air-column pressures by 30–40% in Atlantic sea states — and the prohibitively expensive fully nonlinear CFD simulations. He has implemented a weakly nonlinear time-domain solver that couples a boundary element method for the submerged hull with an OpenFOAM volume-of-fluid model confined to the air chamber, reducing computation time by a factor of 60 versus fully resolved CFD while capturing the key nonlinear air compressibility effects. Validation against new experimental data from the IST wave tank facility shows agreement within 8% for pressure amplitudes and 5% for capture width ratio across a wide wave height range. A consultancy agreement with EDP Renewables' offshore innovation group means Eduardo is directly advising on the hydrodynamic design of a commercial OWC demonstration array planned for the Portuguese western coast.
Details
- Advisor
- Prof. António Sarmento
- Field
- Ocean Energy Systems
- Institution
- University of Lisbon
- Skills
- OpenFOAM VOF free-surface CFDphysical scale modelling wave tankWAMIT frequency domain BEMPython time-domain simulation
- Thesis
- Nonlinear Hydrodynamic Modelling of Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converters for Atlantic Portuguese Waters
- Transition Signals
- WEC design consultant for EDP Renewablespresenting at EWTEC 2027EU-funded BlueEconomy project associate