Literature on breaking waves is reviewed in the context of offshore structure design. Particular attention is paid to deep and intermediate water. The effects of three-dimensionality and randomness on the water particle kinematics are considered. Recommendations are made for alteration of the design wave elevation/height ratio and deep water steepness limits.
The study of breaking waves has proceeded on a wide range of fronts: analytical, numerical, experimental, and full scale research from shore and ship-based to satellite photography. The investigators approach the problem from a wide range of backgrounds: mathematicians, engineers, physicists and oceanographers have all contributed to furthering our knowledge of wave breaking. Additionally, these investigators have often been looking at particular aspects of breaking with a specific purpose in mind. The transfer of knowledge between, say, the oceanographer and the engineer is limited, and often negligible, as the list of references appended to learned papers in these two fields demonstrates. To bring together all of the research on wave breaking has become an almost impossible task, so this study will concentrate on breaking wave probability and breaking wave limits and wave kinematics in the context of offshore wave loading. A fuller review of forces and shallow water effects is published in Easson (1996). Banner and Peregrine (1993) provide a more general introduction to deep water breaking waves, covering experimental and theoretical developments for probability and kinematics. The breaking wave is only one example of the limiting wave and for this reason both large non-breaking and breaking waves are considered. Small breaking waves are of limited interest to a design engineer calculating extreme loading and, as the following sections demonstrate, large non-breaking waves are more frequent than large breaking waves.
Regular wave limits
