LABORATORY OBSERVATIONS AND NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE EFFECTS OF AN ARRAY OF WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS

Aaron K. Porter, Merrick C. Haller, Pukha Lenee-Bluhm

Abstract


This paper investigates the effects of wave energy converters (WECs) on water waves through the analysis of extensive laboratory experiments, as well as subsequent numerical simulations. Data for the analysis was collected during the WEC-Array Experiments performed at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University, in collaboration with Columbia Power Technologies, using five 1:33 scale point-absorbing WECs. The observed wave measurement and WEC performance data sets allowed for a direct computation of power removed from the wave field for a large suite of incident wave conditions and WEC array sizes. Using measured power absorption characteristics as a WEC parameterization for SWAN was developed. This parameterization was verified by comparison to the observational data set. Considering the complexity of the problem, the parameterization of WECs by only power absorption is a reasonable predictor of the effect of WECs on the far field.

Keywords


wave-energy; spectral modeling; laboratory experiments

References


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