NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Renewable Energy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Renewable Energy, vol 63, March 2014, DOI:10.1016/j.renene.2013.08.046Semi-analytical and fully numerical modelling is developed in the framework of the inviscid potential flow theory to investigate the dynamics of a wave farm made by flap-type wave energy converters in the nearshore. The hydrodynamic parameters and the efficiency of the system in typical layouts are calculated with both models. Good agreement is shown between the two approaches. Parametric analysis undertaken with the semi-analytical model allows to identify a near-resonant phenomenon which is responsible for increasing the absorbed power by the single elements of the array. Such result could be used as a preliminary design criterion. The numerical model is then applied to analyse a configuration of practical engineering interest, i.e. an array of two staggered converters. The dynamics arising in this more complex system is explained, showing that non-symmetric layouts can be less effective