Abstract
The effects of humanity's carbon footprint deserve attention and remediation. The ocean can provide an abundant source of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels in the form of wave energy. However, wave energy collection needs to be comparable in terms of cost and efficiency to be considered a viable alternative. Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter (PA-WEC) is one method of capitalizing on the ocean's wave energy. Past research provides methods for optimizing control force parameters for single PA-WECs. This paper provides methods for optimizing control force parameters for arrays of PA-WECs; optimization considers factors such as radiation hydrodynamic interactions, diffraction hydrodynamic interactions, array arrangements, and wave incident angles. In section 2, we outline the steps to determining optimal control forces. In section 3, we present numerical simulations of PA-WECs and compared the results between single PA-WEC systems and arrayed PA-WEC systems.