Nonlinear Interaction of Unidirectional Random Waves along a Vertical Wall

Abstract

In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate stem waves for unidirectional random waves. The measured wave heights were compared with the numerical simulations using REF/DIF S developed by Kirby and Ozkan (1994). For the case of small amplitude waves no stem wave is developed, and the numerical solution agrees well with the measured data. However, for the finite amplitude waves the numerical solution gives no stem wave, while the measured data show clearly stem waves along the wall. In this study, a simple improvement on nonlinear dispersion relationship in REF/DIF S is made. As a result the numerical solution is significantly improved to give good agreements with the measured data. From this study it is found that the stem waves can also be developed for random waves, and the nonlinearity of incident waves is the controlling mechanism for the stem wave development along the wall.