Wave disturbance induced by a one-line array of floating Wave Energy Converters

The main purpose of the paper is the analysis of the hydrodynamics around floating Wave Energy Converters of the Wave Activated Body type. The paper presents some of the results derived from new experiments carried out in the directional wave basin of the Laboratory of Aalborg University (DK). The modified wave field around an aligned wave farm module was investigated by means of twenty-one resistive Wave Gauges. The module consisted of two 1:60 scale models moored with a spread system, composed by four steel chains. Tests were performed considering ordinary North Sea wave climate condition and varying two main design parameters: two long-shore distance between the devices and three mooring line pre-tensions. Results suggest that the device length should be tuned based on the wave length (if possible greater than it) and that the optimal farm layout should consider a mutual long-shore distance of about 5 times the device width and a cross-shore distance greater than 1.6 times the device length.