A preliminary study on the optimal formation of an array of wave power devices.

Fitzgerald, C.; Thomas, G. (2007). A preliminary study on the optimal formation of an array of wave power devices.. Paper presented at 7th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference (EWTEC 2007), Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

This paper describes a preliminary study into the optimal formation of an array of heaving semi-submerged spheres. A small body approximation is employed and an important new consistency condition for the interaction factor q is presented. With attention directed towards a five-member array, the results from a numerical optimisation study are presented and identify optimal behaviour in both symmetric and non-symmetric configurations.