Uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis of a composite material wave energy converter structure

This paper presents a study of uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis of the composite material structure of a waver energy converter. A glass fibre reinforcement polymer is selected, where the correlation between elastic parameters is accounted by the Monte Carlo simulation based on a composite micro-mechanical model. The Monte Carlo simulation is also used to assess the uncertainty propagation using the Nataf transformation. A finite element analysis is undertaken to evaluate the linear buckling behaviour of a long point absorber structure under hydrostatic pressure and a sensitivity analysis is carried out, regarding the impact of the elastic material properties on linear the buckling.