CHARACTERIZATION OF THE WAVE SPECTRUM MODULATION BY AN OFFSHORE OSCILLATING WATER COLUMN

Wave energy devices installed in the real ocean change the physical environment around the site to affect morphological and biological conditions by interacting with the incident waves and other devices. The final goal of this study is to build a model to predict deformation of irregular waves around a wave energy device that can be applied on a wave prediction model so that we can evaluate effects of a wave energy project on the physical environment around. The present study performed laboratory experiments to understand basic characteristics of the wave deformation around a simplified model of a floating oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy device which is known to be robust for severe wave conditions and can be installed offshore having more powerful wave resources. Relationship between the peak frequency of the incident waves and wave frequency for the peak energy absorption of the OWC model was found to determine the wave spectrums of the transmitted and reflection waves.