Investigation of seasonal variation of wave energy density around Jeju sea based on long-term simulated wave data

Abstract

Wave power distribution is studied to determine the optimal sites for wave power generation at Jeju sea which contains the highest wave energy density in Korean coastal waters. The spatial and seasonal variation of wave power per unit length is calculated in Jeju sea area based on monthly mean wave data from 1979 to 2002 that was produced by SWAN wave model simulation. Wind-wave energy is dominant in the winter but the swell wave energy is relatively larger than wind-wave's in the summer. The spatial distribution of wave power in the summer reveals high density of both wind wave and swell in the south coast while in the winter wind-wave power is strong in the west coast and swell power is more significant in the north coast. In general, the average wave energy density is higher in the west than one in the east. Chagui-Do is the most optimal place for wave power generation with the highest average wave energy density and the longest operational period. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 15th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference (Seoul, Korea 6/19/2005).