Sandia, DOE Introduce WEC Array Simulation Tool

The U.S. Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories have publicly released SNL-SWAN v1.0 (Sandia National Laboratories – Simulating WAves Nearshore).

This tool is a result of a multi-year research study to accurately simulate altered wave propagation due to the operation of WEC arrays. SNL-SWAN is an open source code for wave energy converter (WEC) array simulation, based on modifications to the open source spectral wave model, SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore), developed by TU Delft.

By including a WEC module in SWAN, researchers can account for power performance of WECs, the effects on the wave field, and the potential effects on the environment such as changes in water flow, altered sediment transport, and bottom scour. The changes to SWAN rely on the wave height at each WEC and/or the wave period-dependent power absorption.

SNL-SWAN has been developed to assist the marine hydrokinetic (MHK) industry in assuring that environmental effects are minimized in planning for array development. A user’s manual has been written to allow developers, regulators, researchers, and other interested parties to easily apply SNL-SWAN to WEC arrays.