Open AccessVERIFICATION OF A WAVE REFRACTION MODEL UTILISING RECORDED AND OBSERVED WAVE DATA
Author(s) -
George R. Henderson,
N.B. Webber
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
proceedings of conference on coastal engineering/proceedings of ... conference on coastal engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2156-1028
pISSN - 0589-087X
DOI - 10.9753/icce.v17.5
Subject(s) - hindcast , refraction , geology , wave model , submarine pipeline , buoy , oblique case , diffraction , channel (broadcasting) , seismology , wave height , waves and shallow water , meteorology , remote sensing , marine engineering , geodesy , computer science , engineering , climatology , optics , telecommunications , physics , oceanography , linguistics , philosophy
There are few references in the published literature to the verification of wave refraction models utilising field data. More often, such models have been compared to the results of analytical solutions or using laboratory models. This paper reviews the present state of knowledge of such verifications and describes a method which has been successfully employed at a coastal site in the central English Channel. The procedure involves hindcasting recorded Waverider Buoy wave information from a nearshore region to deep water. A comprehensive coverage of wind data has been utilised to provide the offshore wave approach direction. Wave orthogonals have then been tracked inshore and the breaking wave heights and directions compared with observed data. The results show reasonable comparison where the waves are free from diffraction. However, for oblique wave attack, diffraction around headlands produces evident anomalies.