With the growing menace of increase in population and pollution, renewable sources of energy are being preferred over the fast depleting fossil fuels. Ocean wave energy is one such form of renewable source with a huge potential all around the globe. Wave energy conversion (WEC) devices are used to harness the energy from ocean waves. An oscillating water column (OWC) is a WEC device, which uses an axial turbine to convert wave energy into useful electrical energy. The experimental setup designed and assembled at Wave Energy and Fluids Engineering Laboratory, IIT Madras tested the turbine subjected to bidirectional airflow. The objective of the preliminary experiment is to measure the rotational speed and pressure drop across the turbine. The variable parameters are stroke length and time period of the oscillating piston, which simulates different ocean wave conditions. A comparative study of the parameters is carried out and reported in this article. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.