Accession Number:

ADA243681

Title:

Wave Groups in Shallow Water

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.

Corporate Author:

WASHINGTON STATE UNIV PULLMAN DEPT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Personal Author(s):

Report Date:

1991-11-10

Pagination or Media Count:

5.0

Abstract:

The immediate scientific objective of this project was to understand and predict wave groups throughout the shoaling region seawards of the zone of wave breaking. During FY90-91 wave group prediction models based on linear theory were developed andor implemented. Observations of sea surface elevation were also made in 19 m water depth near the North Carolina coast during the SAMSON and Delilah field experiments Aug. 1990 - May 1991. Wave group statistics from these data, as well as from data previously obtained were compared to model predictions. The comparisons indicate that, for a wide range of ocean conditions, seaward of the shoaling region wave group statistics are not inconsistent with linear theory. Linear theory does not accurately predict observations of group statistics in shallow depths eg, less than 10 m where nonlinear interactions become important to the evolution of the wave field. During FY91 a technique to numerically simulate a wave field with specified power spectrum and bispectrum was developed, thus allowing wave fields with quadratic nonlinearities to be simulated. Comparisons between observed and simulated group statistics are being made. One of the primary results of this study is that wave group statistics observed in the ocean at 3 depths all greater than 10m for a very large range of wave conditions are not inconsistent with linear theory.

Descriptors:

• *COASTAL REGIONS
• OCEAN SURFACE
• PREDICTIONS
• MODELS
• INTERACTIONS
• THEORY
• FIELD TESTS
• STATISTICS
• POWER SPECTRA
• SHALLOW DEPTH
• REGIONS
• SHALLOW WATER
• NONLINEAR SYSTEMS
• LINEARITY
• QUADRATIC EQUATIONS
• OCEANS
• RANGE(EXTREMES)
• ELEVATION
• NORTH CAROLINA
• WAVES
• SIMULATION
• DEPTH

Subject Categories:

• Physical and Dynamic Oceanography
• Statistics and Probability

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE