Frequency Width in Predictions of Windsea Spectra and the Role of the Nonlinear Solver

Abstract

ln this paper, the accuracy of predictions of the narrowness in frequency space of elevation spectra for wind-generated surface gravity waves is evaluated with the specific objective of determining the impact of the method for computing quadruplet interactions, S.M. Alternate metrics are presented for concise quantification of this narrowness and applied to a case study: a 10-day duration hindcast for Lake Michigan during 2002 conducted using the Discrete Interaction Approximation (DIA) for5 M. Under-prediction of frequency narrowness relative to observational data is clearly identifiable using non-concise methods. Two of four concise methods for quantifying spectral narrowness are found to adequately register this bias. By comparing with a hindcast that uses an expensive, exact solution for four-wave nonlinear interactions, it is determined that much of the bias can be attributed to the approximation used for the solution of these interactions in the first hindcast, which corresponds to the DIA, which is the solution method used today in nearly all routine, phase-averaged wave modeling.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 20, 2012
Accession Number
ADA624420

Entities

People

  • Erick Erick Rogers
  • Gerbrant Ph. Van Vledder

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Case Studies
  • Coastal Engineering
  • Computations
  • Energy Transfer
  • Engineering
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Frequency
  • Gravity
  • Gravity Waves
  • Great Lakes
  • Grids
  • Lake Michigan
  • Lakes
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Ocean Waves
  • Waves

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation

Technology Areas

  • Space