Improving predictions of the coastal impacts of wave farms using a phase-resolving wave model

Commensurate with their extraction of energy, farms
of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) may significantly alter wave
fields in their lee, and as a result, potentially impact an adjacent
shoreline. Most previous studies to assess the coastal impact of
wave farms have used phase-averaged wave models, which do not
fully represent all relevant physical processes (e.g., diffraction and
the wave-WEC interactions) that may in turn result in unrealistic
downstream effects. Although a more advanced method has been
developed based on the mild-slope equations, this technique is
inherently limited to linear waves over mildly sloping beaches. In
this work we set out to develop a fully nonlinear phase-resolving
wave model to accurately resolve both the nonlinear evolution of
waves in an arbitrary coastal region, and the wave-WEC and
WEC-WEC interactions. A comparison of results of the new
model with a potential flow solution shows that the model can
accurately simulate the wave-induced response of a submerged
device. Furthermore, we demonstrate the models application to
study the downstream impact of a WEC and illustrate its
advantages over phase-averaged models. These results illustrate
that the developed approach provides a promising new alternative
to predict the coastal impact of a wave farm.