Wave Modeling Results: Baseline Observations and Modeling for the Reedsport Wave Energy Site

Offshore wave conditions along the Oregon coastline are measured at a handful of buoy\ud locations where directional wave information is available. Most of these buoys are located in\ud deep waters and incoming waves undergo changes as they travel from deep water onto the shelf\ud where wave energy conversion arrays are likely to be deployed. These changes can be in the\ud form of wave focusing or defocusing due to the presence of underwater banks, shoals, or\ud canyons. Also, wave dissipation mechanisms such as bottom friction or wave breaking can be at\ud play. Wave models can take into account such processes and produce predictions of the local\ud conditions at the site of a wave energy conversion (WEC) array. Knowledge of local conditions\ud can aid in the design of the devices for the specific local conditions to which they will be\ud subjected and can also provide advance knowledge of wave conditions to power companies once\ud a WEC array is in place.\ud The work performed herein was geared towards two goals. First, transformation of the wave field from\ud deep water to the site of the buoy deployment was assessed. Second, preliminary predictions about the\ud potential impact of the buoys on the wave field are made. The results are discussed separately below.\ud Note that model code used herein is freely available soft ware and can be obtained through\ud http://www.wldelft.nl/soft/swan/. Input files specific to this work can be obtained through the author