MATHEMATICAL AND NUMERICAL MODELLING OF WAVE IMPACT ON WAVE-ENERGY BUOYS

We report on the mathematical and numerical modelling of amplified rogue waves driving a wave-energy device in a contraction. This wave-energy device consists of a floating buoy attached to an AC-induction motor and constrained to move upward only in a contraction, for which we have realised a working scale-model. A coupled Hamiltonian system is derived for the dynamics of water waves and moving wave-energy buoys. This nonlinear model consists of the classical water wave equations for the free surface deviation and velocity potential, coupled to a set of equations describing the dynamics of a wave-energy buoy. As a stepping stone, the model is solved numerically for the case of linear shallow water waves causing the motion of a simple buoy structure with V-shaped cross-sections, using a variational (dis)continuous Galerkin finite element method.