Use of Theoretical Wave Height Distributions in Directional Seas.

摘要

Knowledge of total water levels, of which the heights of wind waves are an important part, is critical to the successful design of coastal shore protection projects. This report makes a preliminary examination of the behavior of two wave height distribution models using a small but diverse set of test data. Data are derived from a Waverider buoy deployed near the 8-m-depth contour about 1 km offshore of the CERC's Field Research Facility near Duck, NC. Data are classified by directional characteristics derived from a high-resolution, linear array, directional wave gage also located near the 8-m contour and just north of the Waverider buoy. The two models are the Rayleigh probability function and the Beta-Rayleigh probability function, introduced to address the problem of wave heights in shallow water. The Beta-Rayleigh model was used in three forms: a deepwater asymptotic form, the formally derived form, and a finite-depth form in which the governing parameters are estimated from the spectrally based characteristic wave height and peak period. Models were tested under the constraints that they be computed exactly as published and with no allowance to adjust parameters to reduce differences with observations. In spite of the stringent requirements of the tests, all models performed remarkably well.