Breaking Wave Criterion on a Sloping Beach.
Abstract
The various wave theories, theoretical breaking criteria and derived breaking criteria are reviewed for shallow water waves. To account for the non-linear hydrodynamics present in a shallow water wave breaking on a beach with a sloping bottom, the perturbation technique of Iwagaki and Sakai is used to derive a second order expression for the horizontal water particle velocity for long waves. The kinematic breaking criterion is applied to the derived c(2) and u(2) values to establish breaking. The results indicate that the ratios of eta(b)/L(o) and h(b)/H(o) provide reliable breaking criteria. Each of the parameters is dependent only upon beach slope and h(o)/L(o). Theoretically derived values for h(b)/H(o) compare favorably with field measurements and offer significant improvement over previous theory. Predicted breaking depths are less than those present in experimental data, suggesting extension to higher orders may be warranted. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA032323
Entities
People
- Richard Markley Smith
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School