Broadband near-perfect capture of water wave energy by an array of heaving buoy wave energy converters

Abstract

Arrays of heaving buoy type wave energy converters (WECs) are a promising contender to harness the renewable power of ocean waves on a commercial scale but require strategies to achieve efficient capture of wave energy over broad frequency bands for economic viability. A WEC-array design is proposed for absorption over a target frequency range in the two-dimensional water wave context by spatially grading the resonant properties of WECs via linear spring–damper power take-off mechanisms. The design is based on theories for rainbow reflection and rainbow absorption, which incorporate analyses based on Bloch wave modes and pole–zero pairs in complex frequency space. In contrast to previous app..