Open AccessEXPLICIT SOLUTIONS TO PRACTICAL WAVE PROBLEMS
Author(s) -
Peter Nielsen
Publication year - 1984
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.v19.66
Subject(s) - calculator , dissipation , computer science , wave energy converter , computation , mathematics , energy (signal processing) , calculus (dental) , mathematical optimization , algorithm , physics , medicine , statistics , dentistry , thermodynamics , operating system
Explicit formulae are provided for wave problems covered by linear wave theory. Two goals are pursued. The first is to provide a faster and more flexible tool than usual wave tables. The second is to provide explicit, analytical solutions to problems that have so far demanded time consuming numerical integrations. As an example we solve the problem of wave height variation due to refraction, shoaling and energy dissipation over a soft mud bottom. The obtained explicit solutions are accurate enough for practical purposes and require very little computational effort, in fact they will enable the engineer to solve many wave problems with a handheld calculator. Another advantage of analytical solutions is that they are always much more instructive than numerical results.