Directional spreading and individual wave height distributions in the coastal zone: measurements and simulations

Abstract

Characteristics of the individual wave height distribution in shallow water have been investigated using measured wave data and results of numerical simulations using the non-hydrostatic SWASH model. It is shown that the SWASH model is capable of reproducing the temporal and spatial variation of surface elevation in a wave flume and the resulting individual wave height distributions, whereas three theoretical distributions fail to do so. SWASH was also applied to a 2D field case and was able to reproduce the individual wave height distribution. Finally, the effect of directional spreading on the individual wave height distribution was determined by performing two SWASH model runs; one with directional spreading and one with uni-directional irregular waves.. The results suggest that directional spreading increases the highest individual wave height.