A Frequency-Domain Model for a Novel Wave Energy Converter

In this work, we develop a frequency-domain model for the novel Ocean Grazer (OG) wave energy converter (WEC), with the intention to study the hydrodynamic behavior of its array of floater elements individually connected to power take-off (PTO) systems. To investigate these hydrodynamic interactions, we lean on the boundary element method (BEM) open-source code NEMOH, in order to solve the scattering and radiation problem. The interconnection between the floater elements is realized through hinges, which add extra constraint equations to the multibody problem. In particular, we illustrate this with a floater array consisting of ten hinged floater elements in open sea conditions, which we verify by comparing it with our previously developed time-domain model. Accordingly, the hydrodynamic behavior of the floater array is quantified by the response amplitude operator (RAO) of the floater elements and the extracted energy. The present work will be instrumental in the synthesis of advanced control algorithms for the OG-WEC