NUMERICAL DISTRIBUTION SIMULATION OF TYPHOONS’ WAVE ENERGY IN THE TAIWAN STRAIT AND ITS ADJACENT WATERS

Abstract

As new energy technologies boom in recent years, marine renewable energy, especially wave power is one potential trend. However, few relevant studies focus on extreme sea conditions. In this paper, a numerical model of typhoon waves in the Taiwan Strait is established based on the third-generation ocean wave model SWAN and then calculated by the wave energy empirical equation. Typhoon No. 200808 Fung-wong, strong typhoon No. 200815 Jangmi and strong typhoon No. 201808 Maria are used for verification and analysis. Finally, the results show that most concentrated wave energy values are more than 300 kW/m for typhoon and more than 900 kW/m for strong typhoons, over 60 times and 180 times the annual average (5 kW/m) in the Chinese sea area, respectively. In terms of other locations, corresponding values are more than 50 kW/m and over 100 kW/m. Therefore, typhoons’ wave energy is certainly a huge asset if fully utilized.

Keywords

• taiwan strait
• typhoon
• swan model
• significant wave height
• wave energy