This research projects aims to investigate the scale effects on the performance of a multi- body floating wave energy converter (WEC). The discrepancy between the extrapolated lab tests results and the actual prototype performance has been the core issue faced by physical modelers and industries in the development of wave energy converter technologies. This issue occurs due to the impossibility of scaling all physical properties appropriately causing some physical factors to be scaled down incorrectly. Worldwide ongoing effort has been focused on mitigating and correcting such experimental scale effects with appropriate guidelines developed.

However, WEC being a relatively new technology with limited amount of full size prototype data, many uncertainties and discrepancies remain in comparing the different scales performance. Extrapolation of such small-scale model performances to prototype will certainly cause uncertainties in performance predictions. A prototype WEC deployed as part of the Blue Economy CRC project ‘Seeding marine innovation in SW WA with a WEC deployment in Albany’ will be used to collect and analyse the in-field data. Different scaled model test will be performed in the basin facility available in the Australian Maritime College to reciprocate the field environment and EC at lower scale. The prototype data and lab data will be compared to identify, quantify and mitigate the scale effects. Updated methodology will be developed and published. This will help in mitigating the uncertainties in early design stages thereby saving time and cost to industries.