Layout Optimisation of Wave Energy Converter Arrays

• Main Authors: Pau Mercadé Ruiz, Vincenzo Nava, Mathew B. R. Topper, Pablo Ruiz Minguela, Francesco Ferri, Jens Peter Kofoed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-08-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: wave energy arrays; array layout; optimisation; evolution strategy; swarm intelligence
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/9/1262

This paper proposes an optimisation strategy for the layout design of wave energy converter (WEC) arrays. Optimal layouts are sought so as to maximise the absorbed power given a minimum q-factor, the minimum distance between WECs, and an area of deployment. To guarantee an efficient optimisation, a four-parameter layout description is proposed. Three different optimisation algorithms are further compared in terms of performance and computational cost. These are the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA), a genetic algorithm (GA) and the glowworm swarm optimisation (GSO) algorithm. The results show slightly higher performances for the latter two algorithms; however, the first turns out to be significantly less computationally demanding.