Coastal response to wave energy converter arrays: A semi-analytical model for control of nearshore currents and beach morphology

A semi-analytical method much faster than typical computational and experimental methods is developed to quantify how wave energy converter arrays (“wave farms”) affect nearshore currents and beach erosion through modifying ocean waves. The method provides a semi-analytical initial design tool for evaluating coastal impacts of wave farms. The method integrates an existing semi-analytical wave farm model with a nearshore current model; the latter is a rip current model, here it is modified to tackle the wave field produced by wave energy converter arrays. The method is validated against a classic example and compared to results from numerical simulations and wave basin experiments, for an array of 16 oscillating water column devices. The method is then implemented optimise the 16-device array to increase its ability to protect the beach. It is found that the arrays most effective for beach protection also perform well in energy generation. This suggests that prioritising beach protection does not necessarily compromise energy generation performance.