Abstract

A comprehensive study on the kinematics of freak wave sequences has been conducted with experimental and numerical method. As a preliminary step, an amplitude-phase iteration method has been adopted to generate the deterministic freak wave sequences in the wave flume. Subsequently, a numerical wave tank (NWT) has been set up with the similar sizes of the wave flume. An original wave maker signal used in the wave flume has been replicated in the NWT. The reasonable agreements between the numerical and experimental results indicate the capability of the NWT in simulating the freak wave propagations. Wave kinematics, including the wave energy distributions, wave speeds and horizontal velocity profiles, have been presented and discussed. Some meaningful conclusions regarding the kinematics of freak waves are drawn based on the present study.

Keywords:
energy distribution, target wave sequence, wave elevation, wave flume, wave sequence, simulation, sequence, wave height, particle velocity, wave crest
Subjects:
Reservoir Characterization, Information Management and Systems
This content is only available via PDF.
2015. International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.