In the present study, the hydrodynamic efficiency of a cylindrical wave energy converter (WEC) of vertical symmetry axis and arranged in front of a reflecting orthogonal breakwater is explored. The idea is based on exploiting the anticipated amplification of the scattered and the reflected wave fields originating from the presence of the vertical walls, towards increasing the WEC’s wave power absorption due to the walls’ wave reflections. Two types of converters are examined, namely the heaving device and the oscillating water column (OWC) device, assuming linear potential theory. The associated diffraction-, motion-, and pressure-radiation problems are solved using axisymmetric eigenfunction expansions for the velocity potential around the WECs by properly accounting for the wave field’s modification due to the walls’ presence. To this end, a theoretical formulation dealing with the evaluation of the converter’s performance is presented accounting for the coupling between the WEC and the reflecting vertical walls. The results depict that the amount of the harvested wave power by the WEC in front of an orthogonal wall is amplified compared to the absorbed wave power by the same WEC in the open sea.

中文翻译：

---

正交防波堤前波浪能转换器的水动力效率

在本研究中，研究了垂直对称轴的圆柱波能量转换器（WEC）的水动力效率，该转换器布置在反射正交防波堤的前面。这个想法是基于利用垂直壁的存在对散射波场和反射波场的预期放大，以增加由于壁的波反射而引起的WEC的波功率吸收。假设线性势能理论，研究了两种类型的转换器，即升沉设备和振荡水柱（OWC）设备。通过适当考虑壁的存在引起的波场的变化，使用轴对称特征函数展开来解决围绕WEC的速度势，从而解决了相关的衍射，运动和压力辐射问题。为此，提出了处理转换器性能评估的理论公式，说明了WEC与反射垂直壁之间的耦合。结果表明，与公海中相同WEC吸收的波功率相比，WEC在正交壁前的收获波功率的量得到了放大。