Wave Powered Ships - A Comprehensive Study Of Wave Devouring Propulsion

Academics Jingru Xing and Liang Yang from the Division of Energy and Sustainability at Cranfield University have recently published a paper which explores the concept of using wave energy for propulsion.

The paper, available in "Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews", provides "a comprehensive review of flapping foils for Wave Devouring Propulsion (WDP)". The flapping foil, inspired by the fin of a whale, and first proposed back in the 1950s, can utilise wave energy to generate thrust and has a number of applications, including in small, unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and hybrid propulsion systems for manned vessels.

As the paper explains, the flapping foils used in Wave Devouring Propulsion Systems (WDPSs) have three modes of motion: heave (the vertical movement of the foil), pitch (rotation around a pivot point), and flap (the combination of heave and pitch). The movement of the foils can also be constrained in three ways: passive (where the flapping