Optimization approach for piezoelectric energy harvesting from ocean waves and beams

The study of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) energy harvesting using piezoelectric patch integrated on beam structures has received significant attention over the past decades. In this work a mathematical model based on the Stokes equation for the flow and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory for the structure motion is presented. Hybrid optimization procedure is elaborated to find the optimal locations of the piezoelectric patches to calculate the maximum generated electric power. The finite element method (FEM) coupled with the quadratic differential method (QDM) is used to numerically solve the resulting partial differential equations with an implicit time scheme. The obtained numerical simulations are used to calculate the generated electric power. Hybrid optimization algorithm namely GA-PSO-SQP is applied to find the optimal locations of the piezoelectric patches to give maximum generated electric power. An adaptive numerical scheme is elaborated herein to solve the FSI model for energy harvesting from ocean wave motion. This algorithm is combined with optimization procedures and the study gives more insights on the understanding of such problems.