Three-point bending assessment of cold water pipe (CWP) sandwich material for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)

Abstract

Energy needs in Indonesia are always growing with the development of the population. 80% of Indonesia's plants are still fossil-fueled, with the increasing price of fuel oil, alternative energy that is new and renewable energy (NRE) is needed. OTEC is one of the NRE groups that is very suitable in Indonesia because it utilizes the difference in sea depth temperature with sea surface temperature. The geographical location of Indonesia is important in this factor. Therefore, further research is needed to realize OTEC plants in Indonesia. The pipe that serves to deliver water from a depth of 1000 m to the surface is called a Cold Water Pipe (CWP). At great depths, hydrostatic pressure occurs, thus. In this paper, the author will discuss carbon fiber sandwich material-Nomex honeycomb against hydrostatic pressure in cold water pipes in ocean thermal energy conversion with three-point bending testing. The method used is testing in the laboratory testing followed by benchmarking with numerical simulation using ABAQUS software. After all tests and numerical simulations were carried out, numerical simulation results were obtained with a difference below 10% with laboratory test results with a mesh configuration of 2.25 mm for cores and 1 mm for facing.