  Assuming neutron star (NS) or neutron star/stellar-mass black hole (BH)
mergers as progenitors of the short gamma ray bursts, we derive and demonstrate
a simple analysis tool for modelling the efficiency of recovering on-axis
optical afterglows triggered by a candidate gravitational wave event detected
by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network. The coincident detection efficiency has
been evaluated for different classes of operating telescopes using observations
of gamma ray bursts. We show how the efficiency depends on the luminosity
distribution of the optical afterglows, the telescope features, and the sky
localisation of gravitational wave triggers. We estimate a plausible optical
afterglow and gravitational wave coincidence rate of 1 yr$^{-1}$ (0.1
yr$^{-1}$) for NS-NS (NS-BH), and how this rate is scaled down in detection
efficiency by the time it takes to image the gravitational wave sky
localization and the limiting magnitude of the telescopes. For NS-NS (NS-BH) we
find maximum detection efficiencies of $>80%$ when the total imaging time is
less than 200 min (80 min) and the limiting magnitude fainter than 20 (21). We
show that relatively small telescopes $(m<18)$ can achieve similar detection
efficiencies to meter class facilities $(m<20)$ with similar fields of view,
only if the less sensitive instruments can respond to the trigger and image the
field within 10-15 min. The inclusion of LIGO India into the gravitational wave
observatory network will significantly reduce imaging time for telescopes with
limiting magnitudes $\sim20$ but with modest fields of view. An optimal
coincidence search requires a global network of sensitive and fast response
wide field instruments that could effectively image relatively large
gravitational-wave sky localisations and produce transient candidates for
further photometric and spectroscopic follow-up.
