Development of novel parametric wave model for irregular wave height transformation

Abstract

Wave height transformation is one of the most crucial parameters in studying coastal engineering as well as designing coastal structures. In this study, a wave energy dissipation model for predicting the transformation of root-mean-square wave height is proposed by using a parametric wave approach over enormous measured data. Additionally, 12 existing energy dissipation models are selected in order to verify their reliability in wave height prediction and compared with a novel formula in terms of error indices, standard deviation, capacity prediction, and root-mean-square relative error. Compiled experimental data with 5783 data are collected for examination and development. The results present that the root-mean-square relative error of existing formulas is in a range from 6.4% to 10.9%. The best existing formulas predict wave height pretty well with a root-mean-square relative error of 6.4% and a standard deviation of 11.0%. Regarding the new model, the best novel model which uses breaking wave height formula of Miche (1944) displays a lower value of root-mean-square error (6.1%) and standard deviation (8.8%) in comparison with the best existing formulas. To confirm the superior performance of the proposed model, all existing models and the best developed model are verified and compared with additional data. The accuracy of the proposed formula over verified data is still better than all existing formulas. Therefore, the novel model is strongly recommended for estimating the transformation of root-mean-square wave height.