A Comparison of Methods for Synthesis of Directional Seas

Abstract

Numerical models for synthesis of directional seas are evaluated. Several authors have recently reported limitations associated with the commonly used double summation model which is neither ergodic nor spatially homogeneous for a finite number of terms. In order to overcome these problems, a modified double summation model is presented which uses unidirectional, narrow-band random wave trains as the fundamental components rather than plane sinusoidal waves. Various alternatives for generating the fundamental wave trains are investigated by numerical simulation and results are also compared to a simpler single summation wave model.