  In the recently introduced Variable-Shape heaving wave energy converters, the
buoy changes its shape in response to changing incident waves actively. In this
study, the dynamic model for a spherical Variable-Shape Wave Energy Converter
is developed using the Lagrangian approach. The classical bending theory is
used to write the stress-strain equations for the flexible body using Love's
first approximation. The elastic spherical shell is assumed to have an
axisymmetric vibration behavior. The Rayleigh-Ritz discretization method is
adopted to find an approximate solution for the vibration model of the
spherical shell. One-way Fluid-Structure Interaction simulations are performed
using MATLAB to validate the developed dynamic model and to study the effect of
using a flexible buoy in the wave energy converter on its trajectory and power
production.
