Using the Floating Body Symmetries to Speed Up the Numerical Computation of Hydrodynamics Coefficients With Nemoh

The open source potential flow BEM solver Nemoh (developed at École Centrale de Nantes) is widely used today, notably for the development of wave energy converters. The use of a linear potential flow theory allows quick estimations of the hydro-dynamic properties of the device, such as its added mass or its radiation damping. Nonetheless, their computation with Nemoh can still be time consuming and could be optimized to facilitate the R&D process. Many wave energy converter concepts present symmetric shapes: for instance rotational symmetry for point absorbers or translation invariance for cylindrical shapes. These symmetries can be exploited in the BEM solver to significantly speed up the computations. In this paper, the mathematical effect of symmetries on the BEM resolution will be discussed and some results of its implementation in Nemoh will be presented.