In shallow water, and specifically for minimum structures, the critical wave height exponent a has been shown to vary significantly with structural configuration (Tuty, et al., 2001). Because of the strong relationship to the wave kinematics, α is also sensitive to the wave theory chosen. The North West Shelf offshore Australia has numerous minimum structures located in relatively shallow water, which requires non-linear wave theory. In the near-breaking condition, estimation of the wave crest kinematics is difficult, with Stream Function theory being the most widely used. However, various other wave theories and non-linear numerical techniques have been developed to predict wave kinematics for shallow water conditions. The following wave theories are compared: regular Stream Function theory (Dean, 1965), Cnoidal wave theory (Chappelear, 1962), Stokes' theory (Stokes, 1847), NewWave theory (Tromans, et al., 1991) and a second order correction to NewWave theory described by Taylor (1992). Kinematics, loads and a results are presented for a cylinder in three different water depths.
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