Abstract
The deployment of wave energy converters (WECs) in arrays is promising for the exploitation of sustainable marine energy under the overwhelming pressure of global warming. The far-field influence of these arrays can alter nearshore hydrodynamics and environment. Existing studies focus on the change of wave actions while little attention is paid to nearshore circulation patterns. Using a fully nonlinear Boussinesq-type wave model, this paper investigates the influence of WEC array in wave-dominated beach environment. It is shown that significant rip currents will form in the lee of the array despite the original circulation pattern. In the longshore non-homogeneous beach environment, the array-related rip current can be comparable to the natural one in terms of magnitude. The extension length is dependent on the deployment location. The generation mechanism is similar to that of a shadow rip, with an exception for a specific incident angle. This study raises concern of nearshore circulation changes to ensure nearshore environment safety.