Wave interaction and energy absorption from arrays of complex-shaped point absorbers

Abstract

Water wave interactions with arrays of wave energy converters are numerically investigated based on the interaction theory. The converter is a heaving point absorber that can harness the ocean wave energy through up-and-down movements. A semi-analytical hybrid method is developed that combines the boundary element method and the interaction theory. The developed numerical method is verified against theoretical solutions for arrays of truncated vertical circular cylinders. Three different array layouts are studied in detail. It is found that trapped waves exist at critical wave numbers just below the cutoff values, and the peak load on the middle device increases with the number of devices in head waves. With the increase in the complexity of the array layout, significant wave force enhancement is observed, leading to a broader range of magnitude and stronger variations over the frequency band in beam waves. Moreover, variations of the q-factor show that there are some remarkable “bright spot” regions, indicating that the wave energy absorption there is locally optimized against wave conditions. By arranging the layout in a more randomized way, the optimal conditions for maximized power output can be hard to achieve, but the maximum power output can increase to a higher level.