Research toward the development of point absorber ocean wave energy converters (WEC) is migrating from energy absorption of ocean wave heave only, to the absorption of heave and surge. Due to the additional dimension of surge, the mathematic relationship between the ocean waves and the WEC has shifted from a linear model to a nonlinear model. This change has made back driven wave height from de...

Commercialization of wave energy will lead to the necessary deployment of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) in arrays, or wave farms. In order for projects in the United States to be approved, regulatory agencies must perform an Environmental Assessment proving little to no environmental impact. However, little is known about the environmental impacts of such wave farms. As a result, the environmen...

In the wave energy industry, there is a need for open source numerical codes and publicly available experimental data, both of which are being addressed through the development of WEC-Sim by Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). WEC-Sim is an open source code used to model wave energy converters (WECs) when subject to incident waves. In order for the ...

Modeled nearshore wave propagation was investigated downstream of simulated wave energy converters (WECs) to evaluate overall nearand far-field effects of WEC arrays. Model sensitivity to WEC characteristics and WEC array deployment scenarios was evaluated using a modified version of an industry standard wave model, Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN), which allows the incorporation of device-spe...

Energy extraction from ocean waves and conversion to electrical energy is a promising form of renewable energy, yet achieving economic viability of wave energy converters (WECs) has proven challenging. In this article, the design of a heaving cylinder WEC will be explored. The optimal plant (i.e. draft and radius) design space with respect to the design’s optimal control (i.e. power take-off tr...

Articles you may be interested in Wave power calculations for a wave energy conversion device connected to a drogue Experimental results from wave tank trials of a multi-axis wave energy converter Appl. On thermodynamics in the primary power conversion of oscillating water column wave energy converters A generalized equivalent circuit theory for the electric and magnetic resonances of metallic ...

Numerical models for wave energy converters (WECs) are utilized in a number areas within the design process. These include, but are not limited to, performance assessment, control design, and survival analysis. Thus, the accuracy of such a model is paramount to design of a WEC. WEC dynamic models can take a number of forms. At the most basic level, the model should capture the rigidbody dynamic...

In order to better constrain models for simulating the environmental effects of large-scale arrays of Wave Energy Converters (WECs), we have performed laboratory experiments using five 1:33 scale, commercially-designed, point-absorber WECs. Multiple array configurations (1-device, 3-device, and 5device) were subjected to a wide range of wave conditions—both regular waves and fully-directional s...

This paper describes the innovative offshore point-absorber wave energy converter (WEC), IRWEC1, under development by the Hydrodynamics, Acoustics and Marine propulsion Group at Babol Noshirvani University of Technology. Totally enclosed in an outer shell, with no external moving parts, IRWEC1 is completely sealed which make it a robust and trustable system. Important motion for this WEC is the...

To promote and support the wave energy industry, a wave energy converter (WEC) design tool, WEC-Sim, is being developed by Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In this paper, the WEC-Sim code is used to model a point absorber WEC designed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s reference model project. Preliminary verification was performed by comparing results ...