A Method for Investigation of Steady State Wave Spectra in Bays

Abstract

A technique is presented for modeling the evolution of wave spectra in bays. In particular, the writers are concerned with those bodies of water where bathymetric effects are important and where conventional methods such as ray tracing may not always work. The technique presented is based upon a modified form of the Helmholtz equation, thus incorporating refraction and diffraction. A splitting technique transforms the elliptic Helmholtz equation into a parabolic form which can be solved conveniently. Energy dissipation can be built into the transformed equation. The spectral evolution is investigated by using a set of spectral components. These components are needed for the inclusion of the source terms, i.e., atmospheric input and nonlinear energy transfer. Toward this end, a solution process appropriate for the proposed technique is presented. Comparison to laboratory and prototype data are presented.