Eduardo Lopes

University of Lisbon / Ocean Energy Systems

Advisor: Prof. António Sarmento

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.