The influence of multi-body interaction on the hydrodynamic performance of a hexagon-type floating photovoltaic

Clean energy development is an inevitable trend with the increasing demand for electricity. Among marine renewable energy sources, floating photovoltaic (FPV) is becoming a concern, which move to large-scale arrays progressively. Thus, it is necessary to understand the multi-body interaction effect. In this work, a multi-body FPV with four hexagon-type modules is adopted to investigate this phenomenon. Two models are established, including a multi-body model and a single-body model. Based on the composite hydrodynamic method that combines potential theory and the Morison formula, motion response and mooring load variations between two models are compared under combined wave and wind conditions. The results show that the multi-body interaction exhibits distinct characteristics for different modules and mooring lines. The motion becomes more significant when the multi-body model interaction is included, while the oscillations and maximum values of mooring tension decrease. Furthermore, we discuss the dynamic performance of the FPV under different wave parameters to explore the effect of environmental loads on the multi-body interaction.