Numerical simulation of wake effects in the lee of a farm of wave energy converters

The contribution of wave energy to the renewable energy supply is rising. To extract a considerable amount of wave power, Wave Energy Converters (WECs) are arranged in several rows or in a 'farm'. WECs in a farm are interacting (e.g. The presence of other WECs influence the operational beh...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Beels, Charlotte, Troch, Peter, De Rouck, Julien, Versluys, Tom, De Backer, Griet
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2009
Subjects:
Technology and Engineering
INTERNAL GENERATION
MILD-SLOPE EQUATION
Wave Peak
Arctic
Online Access:https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/991881
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-991881
Description
Summary:The contribution of wave energy to the renewable energy supply is rising. To extract a considerable amount of wave power, Wave Energy Converters (WECs) are arranged in several rows or in a 'farm'. WECs in a farm are interacting (e.g. The presence of other WECs influence the operational behaviour of a single WEC) and the overall power absorption is affected. In this paper wake effects in the lee of a single WEC and multiple WECs of the overtopping type, where the water volume of overtopped waves is first captured in a basin above mean sea level and then drains back to the sea through hydro turbines, are studied in a time-dependent mild-slope equation model. The wake behind a single WEC is investigated for uni- and multidirectional incident waves. The wake becomes wider for larger wave peak periods. An increasing directional spreading results in a faster wave regeneration and a shorter wake behind the WEC. The wake in the lee of multiple WECs is calculated for two different farm lay-outs, i.e. an aligned grid and a staggered grid, with varying lateral and longitudinal spacing. In general, the staggered grid results in the highest overall wave power absorption.

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