Numerical study on the impact of wave-current interaction on wave energy resource assessments in Zhoushan sea area, China

Based on MIKE21 SW, the wave-current coupled and uncoupled numerical models were established for Zhoushan sea area. Through analysis of four characteristic moments during spring tide, it can be seen that the influence of tidal level on wave parameters is greater than that of tidal current, but the differences of the annual average wave energy flux are mainly caused by tidal current. The effect of wave-current interaction will cause the wave energy redistribute near the peak of the wave spectrum, resulting in the wave energy near the peak flatted. The wave energy is transferred to low-frequency waves during the flood tide, while is transferred to high-frequency waves during the ebb tide. Through the research on the absorbed power of five wave energy converters in three target areas, it is seen that the effect of wave-current interaction will change the wave energy distribution, thus change the matching between the wave energy distribution interval and the optimal conversion interval of the wave energy converter. Finally, the difference trends of the five wave energy converters on the absorbed power calculated by the two models are obviously different from each other and are also different from the difference trends of their wave energy fluxes.