Improving Computational Efficiency in WEC Design: Spectral-Domain Modelling in Techno-Economic Optimization

Wave energy converter (WEC) optimization often underlines incremental and iterative approaches that result in suboptimal solutions, since all the elements that concur with a techno-economical evaluation are optimized separately due to computation constraints. A design process should rely on precise WEC models to ensure high result accuracy while minimizing the computational demand. These conflicting objectives can be addressed with non-linear time-domain models, known to be numerically accurate, and frequency-domain models due to their high computational efficiency. This work pursues the development of an all-encompassing optimization tool for a gyroscopic-type WEC called ISWEC that applies a new modelling technique named spectral-domain technique as a substitution to the complex time-domain model previously employed. In particular, the spectral-domain technique provides accurate and fast performance predictions of the ISWEC system and offers the possibility to model a hydraulic power take-off, not representable in the frequency domain. The article illustrates techno-economic trends associated with an early-stage design of the ISWEC in high-energy sea-sites, where the low-speed and high-torque profiles call for the use of hydraulic transmissions as opposed to the old electro-mechanical transmissions. The design tool proposed could facilitate the development of WEC technologies via efficient and accurate power assessment and via the possibility of carrying out advanced techno-economic optimisation that goes beyond linear models.