Nature and magnitude of wave loadings at Seawave Slot-cone Generators

The Seawave Slot-cone Generator (SSG) is a wave energy converter based on the overtopping principle,which has collected a good deal of funds in the last years, from both public and private investors.Although its functional response has been extensively researched, practically no tools exist for thestructural design. Based on the results of regular wave experiments conducted at the University ofNaplesFederico II(Italy), a number of design equations have been derived, which permit to estimate themagnitude of the wave pressures acting onto the outer face of the device, along with the respective risetimes. The reliability of the predictive methods have been then verified against the random waveexperiments ofVicinanza and Frigaard (2009).