Course detail

Welcome to Numerical and Experimental Modelling of Wave Energy Converters (2026)

Description: 

As part of the global transition toward renewable energy, wave energy stands out as a key contributor to the future energy mix. The study and analysis of wave energy converters (WECs) is a multidisciplinary and complex field that integrates multiple branches of engineering.

This course is designed to provide researchers entering the wave energy sector with a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental concepts required to analyze various types of structures. In addition, it offers in-depth lectures on specialized topics such as control systems and numerical modeling.

Spanning two weeks (10 days), the course gradually guides participants from theoretical lectures to practical, hands-on exercises and laboratory experiments. By the end of the program, students will be able to optimize the power performance of a wave energy device in both numerical simulations and experimental setups.

The course topics are briefly described hereafter and the tentative daily program is provided at the bottom of the topics description.

Introduction: program description, participants presentations, introduction to wave energy and experimental testing.

Foundamentals of linear system: Basic principles of linear time-invariant (LTI) dynamical systems, including e.g. input-to-state and input-output representations, frequency response, and notions of stability. 

Ocean Waves: Numerical representation and generation of ocean waves, including time and frequency domain characterisations. 

Linear Potential Flow Theory: Basic description of how the linear potential theory is defined, with its main assumptions from Navier-stokes equations to how the motion is described in the frequency-domain. 

BEM software: practical aspects of standard BEM softwares, including the analysis of several structure from mesh generation to response definition. 

Power Take Off Systems: Well-adopted PTO systems in the literature, including e.g. electric and hydraulic actuators, and their effect on the overall WEC dynamics. 

Mooring Dynamics: Mooring systems for different conversion concepts and their impact in modelling tasks.

Time-Domain Modelling: Derivation of time-domain models from the previously described frequency-domain models. 

WEC Array Modelling: Extension of modelling techniques for a single device to the WEC farm case. 

Introduction to Control Systems: Fundamental objectives of control engineering, and how this can be applied to modify the dynamics of a given system, with special emphasis on the WEC control case. 

WEC Control Fundamentals: Principles underlying optimal control for WEC systems, explicitly deriving a set of optimality conditions for maximum energy absorption for generic devices. 

Element of System Identification: Introduction to the key elements behind system identification, particularly from a frequency domain perspective, with emphasis on the definition of suitable input signals for generating representative output data, and techniques to parameterise models. 

System Identificaton for WECs: Black-box identification for WEC systems from different input-output points, with emphasis on practical implementation issues. 

Advanced control of WECs: Overview of alternative parameterisations for LTI WEC control based on composite loops, and direct optimal control for WEC systems (e.g. model predictive control/spectral control/pseudo-spectral control).

Wave estimation and excitation force prediction: Introduction to unknown input estimation with application to compute an estimate of the wave excitation force online. 

Experimental modelling: Introduction to experimental modellig tecniques with focus on uncertainties, complementarity with numerical modelling and limitation

Control Competition: practical implementation of a controller to be tested in a scaled model of the wave star wave energy covnerter. The different groups will compete to achieve the maximum performance for the given device. 

Prerequisites: Basic master level engeenering knowledge is required to follow the course, e.g. linear algebra, linear dynamic system modelling. It is also required to have prior knowledge of coding language: matlab is the prefered option. 

Learning objectives: 

After the course the particpants wil have all the required tools and knowledge to model and analyize wave energy converters. More in general , the presented tools and methods are useful to model any dynamic strctures subject to ocean waves. 
The course will focus on the following learning objectives:

• The State of the Art of wave energy conversion techniques
• The State of the Art of numerical modelling of WECs, the limitations and the alternative numerical approaches
• The State of the Art of experimental modelling of WECs, the limitations and the alternative numerical approaches
• The State of the Art of control of WECs

By the end of the course, the participants will have carried out the following tasks:

• Wave measurement and generation in wave tank
• Numerical investigation of the performance of a WEC
• Experimental investigation of the performance of a WEC with and without control

Teaching methods: The course is a combination of presentation and hand on experience with both numerical and experimental modelling of wave energy converters with several laboratory sessions, where the participants have the possibility to try their own controller on a scaled version of the WaveStar WEC. 

Criteria for assessment: Participants will be evaluated throught eh final assigment, which consist in the preparation of a report to be delivered 2 weeks after the end of the course.

Organizer: Francesco Ferri, Associate Professor, AAU (ffer@build.aau.dk)

Important information concerning PhD courses: 

There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.