Dynamic characteristics and energy-harvesting performance of floating two-buoy wave energy converter arrays

A unified hybrid frequency–time domain numerical framework is used to evaluate the performance of floating two-buoy wave energy converter (WEC) arrays of progressively increasing scale subject to regular and irregular wave conditions. The array configurations comprise an isolated WEC (C1) and linear (C2), equilateral triangular (C3), square (C4), and square-center (C5) arrays. The numerical framework is validated through cross-comparison with physical model test data from a 1:10-scale isolated WEC device and a 1:5-scale WEC array. Our hierarchical comparative analysis approach progresses from hydrodynamic response characterization to energy capture performance evaluation, enabling unified, consistent assessment of the dynamic behavior and energy-absorption capability of each configuration. Our results demonstrate that a linear arrangement of pairs of two-buoy WECs aligned parallel to wave crests achieves the best overall performance in terms of energy capture efficiency, scalability, and engineering feasibility. This arrangement provides a maximum capture width ratio (CWR) of approximately 36.3% for idealized large-scale deployment at Baiquan Island. The study also elucidates the synergistic mechanisms induced by array shadowing effects, radiation–scattering coupling, and shared mooring constraints. These mechanisms provide a physical connection between fluid dynamics and energy performance, and so provide a transferable analytical pathway by which to obtain the coordinated optimization of array layout, shared mooring systems, and power performance of arrays of two-buoy WECs.