Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Wave-Driven Desalination Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: DeGoede, Nate, Haji, Maha N.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author DeGoede, Nate
Haji, Maha N.
author_facet DeGoede, Nate
Haji, Maha N.
contents Wave-driven desalination systems are an innovative solution to the global freshwater crisis, leveraging the complementary characteristics of seawater reverse osmosis and wave energy converters. However, the high costs of this system pose a significant barrier to widespread adoption. Optimization can help these systems reach a more competitive levelized cost of water, but the highly coupled nature of the system necessitates a multidisciplinary design optimization approach. This paper presents a holistic, multidisciplinary design optimization framework for wave-driven desalination system design, integrating models for wave energy converter hydrodynamics, power take-off transmission, seawater reverse osmosis constraints, and economic analysis. This study demonstrates the impact of multidisciplinary design optimization for wave-driven desalination systems, resulting in a 69.5% reduction in levelized cost of water compared to a nominal design. We demonstrate that multidisciplinary design optimization outperforms sequential design approaches, yielding lower levelized costs of water and substantially different optimal designs. The multidisciplinary design optimization results suggest major design changes compared to designs found in the literature. Notably, smaller wave energy converters and larger pistons, along with smaller accumulators and larger seawater reverse osmosis plant installations, are preferred. These design trends are consistent across a range of sea states, suggesting potential generalizability beyond a single location. This study demonstrates the importance of holistic modeling and co-design for wave-driven desalination systems and establishes an effective optimization framework for future studies to build upon.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_27152
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Wave-Driven Desalination Systems
DeGoede, Nate
Haji, Maha N.
Systems and Control
Applied Physics
Wave-driven desalination systems are an innovative solution to the global freshwater crisis, leveraging the complementary characteristics of seawater reverse osmosis and wave energy converters. However, the high costs of this system pose a significant barrier to widespread adoption. Optimization can help these systems reach a more competitive levelized cost of water, but the highly coupled nature of the system necessitates a multidisciplinary design optimization approach. This paper presents a holistic, multidisciplinary design optimization framework for wave-driven desalination system design, integrating models for wave energy converter hydrodynamics, power take-off transmission, seawater reverse osmosis constraints, and economic analysis. This study demonstrates the impact of multidisciplinary design optimization for wave-driven desalination systems, resulting in a 69.5% reduction in levelized cost of water compared to a nominal design. We demonstrate that multidisciplinary design optimization outperforms sequential design approaches, yielding lower levelized costs of water and substantially different optimal designs. The multidisciplinary design optimization results suggest major design changes compared to designs found in the literature. Notably, smaller wave energy converters and larger pistons, along with smaller accumulators and larger seawater reverse osmosis plant installations, are preferred. These design trends are consistent across a range of sea states, suggesting potential generalizability beyond a single location. This study demonstrates the importance of holistic modeling and co-design for wave-driven desalination systems and establishes an effective optimization framework for future studies to build upon.
title Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for Wave-Driven Desalination Systems
topic Systems and Control
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.27152