scholarly journals WAVE HEIGHT DISTRIBUTION AND WAVE GROUPING IN SURF ZONE

1982 ◽  
Vol 1 (18) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajime Mase ◽  
Yuichi Iwagaki

The main purpose of this paper is to propose a model for prediction of the spatial distributions of representative wave heights and the frequency distributions of wave heights of irregular waves in shallow-water including the surf zone. In order to examine the validity of the model, some experiments of irregular wave transformation have been made. In addition, an attempt has been made to clarify the spatial distribution of wave grouping experimentally. Especially the present paper focuses finding the effects of the bottom slope and the deep-water wave steepness on the wave height distribution and wave grouping.

1986 ◽  
Vol 1 (20) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Shigeki Sakai ◽  
Kouestu Hiyamizu ◽  
Hiroshi Saeki

Transformation of irregular waves affected by opposing currents on a sloping sea bed was discussed, experimentally and theoretically. It was found that representative values of wave height, such as a significant wave height, are larger before breaking and the wave height decaying occurs more promptly in a surf zone as opposing currents become dominant, and that characteristics of a irregular wave transformation are determined by the dimensionless unit width discharge q* and the deep water wave steepness. This means that the effects of opposing currents on irregular wave transformation are qualitatively identical to that on the regular waves. A transformation model of irregular waves affected by opposing currents was presented. In the model, formulations for a regular wave transformation, in which the effects of opposing currents were taken into account, were applied to individual waves defined by zero-down" cross-method from irregular wave profiles. Comparisons between experimental results and the prediction by the model showed that the present model gives a good explanation for wave height distributions and the experimental finding that the surf zone is moved offshore by opposing currents.


2016 ◽  
Vol 858 ◽  
pp. 354-358
Author(s):  
Tao You ◽  
Li Ping Zhao ◽  
Zheng Xiao ◽  
Lun Chao Huang ◽  
Xiao Rui Han

Within the surf zone which is the region extending from the seaward boundary of wave breaking to the limit of wave uprush, breaking waves are the dominant hydrodynamics acting as the key role for sediment transport and beach profile change. Breaking waves exhibit various patterns, principally depending on the incident wave steepness and the beach slope. Based on the equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy, a theoretical model for wave transformation in and outside the surf zone was obtained, which is used to calculate the wave shoaling, wave set-up and set down and wave height distributions in and outside the surf zone. The analysis and comparison were made about the breaking point location and the wave height variation caused by the wave breaking and the bottom friction, and about the wave breaking criterion under regular and irregular breaking waves. Flume experiments relating to the regular and irregular breaking wave height distribution across the surf zone were conducted to verify the theoretical model. The agreement is good between the theoretical and experimental results.


Author(s):  
Huidong Zhang ◽  
Zhivelina Cherneva ◽  
C. Guedes Soares ◽  
Miguel Onorato

Numerical simulations of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation are performed by using random initial wave conditions characterized by the JONSWAP spectrum and compared with four different sea states generated in the deep water wave basin of Marintek. The comparisons show that the numerical simulations have a high degree of agreement with the laboratory experiments although a little overestimation can be observed, especially in the severe sea state. Thus the simulations still catch the main characteristics of the extreme waves and provide an important physical insight into their generation. The coefficient of kurtosis λ40 presents a similar spatial evolution trend with the abnormal wave density and the nonlinear Gram-Charlier (GC) model is used to predict the wave height distribution. It is demonstrated again that the theoretical approximation based on the GC expansion can describe the larger wave heights reasonably well in most cases. However, if the sea state is severe, wave breaking can significantly decrease the tail of wave height distribution in reality and the discrepancy occurs comparing with the numerical simulation. Moreover, the number of waves also plays an important role on the prediction of extreme wave height.


Author(s):  
Changliang Li ◽  
Bingchen Liang ◽  
Lin Zhao

In practice, the wave height distribution associated with an irregular wave train is always mathematically modeled as a Rayleigh distribution. However, the realistic ocean wave height distribution might deviate from a Rayleigh distribution. The present study demonstrates that a better mathematical model for wave height distribution under realistic ocean environment is a Weibull distribution. In comparison with a Rayleigh distribution, a Weibull distribution has the flexibility on choosing its “shape parameter”. According to the nonlinear Monte Carlo simulations, this study investigates the nonlinearity and spectral width effects on the shape parameter for the Weibull wave height distribution. A new empirical formula for calculating the shape parameter is proposed, which can be used easily in application.


2001 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
German Rodriguez ◽  
C. Guedes Soares ◽  
Mercedes Pacheco ◽  
E. Pe´rez-Martell

The statistical distribution of zero-crossing wave heights in Gaussian mixed sea states is examined by analyzing numerically simulated data. Nine different kinds of bimodal scalar spectra are used to study the effects of the relative energy ratio and the peak frequency separation between the low and high frequency wave fields on the wave height distribution. Observed results are compared with predictions of probabilistic models adopted in practice. Comparisons of the empirical data with relevant probabilistic models reveals that the Rayleigh model systematically overestimates the number of observed wave heights larger than the mean wave height, except for one of the cases analyzed. None of the models used to predict the observed exceedance probabilities is able to characterize adequately all cases of bimodal sea states examined here.


1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (19) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick L.W. Tang ◽  
Jea-Tzyy Juang

Taiwan Strait locates on the continental shelf of the western Pacific Ocean. The water depth is less than 100 meters. Furthermore, the bathemetry of the eastern side namely the offing of western coast of Taiwan shoals gradually. In consequence, in case of the wind "blows from the north to south, waves in the deeper part of the strait refract to he north west direction while they are approaching the shore and local waves directly generated by the wind still keep the same direction of the wind. The situation is shown in Figure 1. Erom September to April of the next year, anticyclones come from Mongolia causes monsoon in this area. The wind velocity in the monsoon sometimes exceeds 20 meters per second, but it is arround 10 meters per second in general. Howerer, the duration of winds over 5 meters per second has been recorded more than 50 days. Engineering works such as towing caissons for building breakwater as well as dredging offshore have to be done in these days. Furthermore, navigation operations should not be stopped unless the wind is too strong. Of course, waves are forecast every day, however, more precise information about the probability of the occurrence of certain wave height is of great significance. In last conference, the authors submitted a probability density function of wave heights in this area. This distribution model is to be remended by considering energy loss in this paper, and concrete forecasting procedure is submitted for engineering and navigation practice.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Caires ◽  
Marcel R.A. Van Gent

Several alternatives to the Rayleigh distribution have been proposed for describing individual wave heights in regions where depth-induced wave breaking occurs. The most widely used of these is the so-called Battjes and Groenendijk distribution. This distribution has been derived and validated in a context of a shallow water foreshore waves propagating over a gently sloping shallow region towards the shore. Its validity for waves propagating in regions with shallow flat bottoms is investigated here. It is concluded that the distribution on average underestimates (outside its range of validity) high wave height measurements in shallow flat bottoms by as much as 15%.


1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (19) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
M. Kubo ◽  
S. Aoki ◽  
J.J. Avitia Segura

The authors developed the numerical method to calculate the wave height distribution around a pair of breakwaters with arbitrary shape of the edge. The effect of the resonators equipped in the breakwaters on the diffracted wave height is simulated by using this method. Simulated results show that the resonators have remarkable effect to reduce wave heights in a harbor. However, in the experiments, resonators are not so effective as predicted by the theory.


Author(s):  
Ed Mackay

Hindcasts of wave conditions can be subject to large uncertainties, especially in storms. Even if estimates of extremes are unbiased on average, the variance of the errors can lead to a bias in estimates of extremes derived from hindcast data. The convolution of the error distribution and wave height distribution causes a stretching of the measured distribution. This can lead to substantial positive biases in estimates of return values. An iterative deconvolution procedure is proposed to estimate the size of the bias, based on the measured distribution and knowledge of the error distribution. The effectiveness of the procedure is illustrated in several case studies using Monte Carlo simulation.


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