The performance of ocean wave energy harvesting can be enhanced by optimizing the design and operation of wave energy converters (WECs). In this experimental study, we investigate the wave interaction produced by installing additional structures to augment the power and efficiency of a WEC. Four circular cylinders are arranged in a square within a large-scale ocean engineering basin, and a duck-type rotor WEC is placed at the center of the cylinders. Several incident wave conditions are generated by varying the wavelength and wave height for a fixed wave steepness. In the absence of the rotor, the waves scattered by the cylinders become concentrated at the center of the array, increasing their amplitudes. With the rotor, wave heights in front of the rotor increase under all wave conditions from the case without the cylinders. The wave concentration produced by the cylinder array contributes positively to the power and efficiency of the rotor. The maximum power output of the rotor within a cycle improves in the entire range of the wavelength, and its efficiency over a cycle increases significantly for small wavelengths. These results are primarily attributable to changes in the temporal profile of the rotor angular velocity by the cylinder array.
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