Robust optimization of control parameters for WEC arrays using stochastic methods

This work presents a new computational optimization framework for the robust control of parks of Wave Energy Converters (WEC) in irregular waves. The power of WEC parks is maximized with respect to the individual control damping and stiffness coefficients of each device. The results are robust with respect to the incident wave direction, which is treated as a random variable. Hydrodynamic properties are computed using the linear potential model, and the dynamics of the system is computed in the frequency domain. A slamming constraint is enforced to ensure that the results are physically realistic. We show that the stochastic optimization problem is well posed. Two optimization approaches for dealing with stochasticity are then considered: stochastic approximation and sample average approximation. The outcomes of the above mentioned methods in terms of accuracy and computational time are presented. The results of the optimization for complex and realistic array configurations of possible engineering interest are then discussed. Results of extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed computational framework.