Finite Water Depth Effects on Nonlinear Waves

Abstract

A representation for nonlinear random waves is obtained from a perturbatioh expansion method. The first‐order wave solution is assumed to be a zero‐mean, Gaussian process. The skewness measure and the skewness kernel for the nonlinear second‐order waves are examined numerically and are compared with hurricane‐generated, real ocean waves. These skewness measures are shown to always be positive and to increase as the water depth decreases. The effects of the angle of intersection between interacting wave trains are also examined numerically.