On the Correlation Functions in Time and Space of Wind-Generated Ocean Waves
Abstract
When wind-generated ocean surface waves are described statistically by means of a wave energy spectrum, the correlation function for the surface elevation at two points and two instants of time follow as an integral over the wave spectrum. The time-correlation function and the spatial-correlation function, which are important for the statistical description of an underwater sound field scattered from the sea surface, follow from this integral as special cases. They are examined here for two proposed spectra for fully-developed -- the Neumann and the Pierson-Moskowitz spectra - by numerical integration. It is shown that the spatial-correlation function, although a function of two variables, can be expressed in terms of two functions of only one variable each, when a cosine-squared law for the directionality of the wave spectrum is assumed. These functions are tabulated and plotted. A very simple relation is sufficient to reconstruct the entire anisotropic spatial correlation function from these basic functions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 15, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0865249
Entities
People
- Jan G. De Boer
Organizations
- SACLANT ASW Research Centre