The “Berkeley Wedge”: an asymmetrical energy-capturing floating breakwater of high performance

This research demonstrates the physical feasibility of constructing a single degree of freedom ocean-wave energy capturing device of extremely high efficiency, which serves also as an almost-perfect floating breakwater. The device consists of an asymmetric heaving floater and a power-take-off (PTO) system. A special geometry was first designed to have minimal effects from viscosity. As such, potential-flow analysis proved adequate for predicting...