Wave Energy Converter System Safety Analysis

Abstract

Safety Intervention Decisions made at the early design stages of a system have a more significant impact on operational performance than at any other stage in its lifecycle. But, early risk-based decisions for novel offshore installations such as Wave Energy Converters (WEC) are hampered by a dearth of much-needed failure information. To support such decisions on the development of a Point-absorber type WEC with a hydraulic Power Take-Off (PTO), Functional Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FFMEA) and Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) were used independently to study the potential functional failures of the system at different stages of the development. FMEA is employed to perform an assessment of the potential risk in the early stage of the design while HAZOP to reveal risk consequences of functional failures of subsystems and component at the operations and maintenance stage of the lifecycle. The system was decomposed into 21 elements; a level considered appropriate to expose all potential functional failures. The highlight of the work is the presentation of exhaustive FMEA and HAZOP sheets meant to feedback failure mode and reliability information into design of Wave Energy Converter System with a hydraulic PTO.