Infra-Gravity Wave Input Toolbox (IGWT): User's Guide

Abstract

Most harbor structures and harbor layouts are designed for protection against wind-generated (short-period) waves with periods of order 3-20 sec. However, Infra-Gravity (IG) waves, also referred to in this note as low-frequency or long-period waves, with periods on order of 30-600 sec, are generated by groups of short-period waves through nonlinear wave-wave interactions. These long-period waves can cause oscillations and resonance problems in harbors. Such low-frequency waves are responsible for harbor downtime, causing oscillation problems to ships that could significantly degrade on-loading and off-loading operations inside ports. IG waves can also damage mooring lines because the natural periods for the horizontal motion of large moored vessels are typically the same order of magnitude. Predicted IG wave input is required in modeling of long-waves affecting harbors. IG waves may also influence navigation, coastal inlets, and coastal structural design projects; IG waves contribute to the prediction of bedload transport, wave setup and setdown, and wave runup and overtopping in a variety of coastal engineering applications. This Coastal and Hydraulic Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) is a user's guide for the Infra-Gravity Wave Toolbox (IGWT) developed as an activity of the Coastal Inlets Research Program (CIRP) of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. The IGWT is a calculator inside the CGWAVE interface in SMS. Users can access the toolbox through the CGWAVE Model Control dialog. This calculator allows users to input wave conditions from a deepwater buoy location or user-defined site, and then accesses several utilities including BOUSS-1D to estimate the generation of long-wave energies affecting nearshore projects. The IGWT thereby generates input wave conditions at the offshore boundary of the CGWAVE domain.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA468500

Entities

People

  • Alan K. Zundel
  • Okey G. Nwogu
  • Zeki Demirbilek

Organizations

  • Engineer Research and Development Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coastal Engineering
  • Deep Water
  • Diffraction
  • Electrical Solitons
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Frequency
  • Gravity
  • Gravity Waves
  • Hydraulics
  • Navigation
  • Shallow Water
  • Two Dimensional
  • Water Waves
  • Wave Power
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Database Systems and Applications