Estimation of Wave Crest Amplitudes Distribution and Freak Wave Occurrence in A Short Crested Mixed Sea

Abstract

In this study we have for the first time proposed a novel transformed linear simulation method for the estimation of wave crest amplitudes distribution and freak wave occurrence in a short crested mixed sea with a bimodal 3D spectrum. For implementing the proposed transformed linear simulation method, a Hermite transformation model expressed in a monotonic cubic polynomial has been constructed so that the first four moments of the original true process match the corresponding moments of the transformed model. The proposed novel simulation method has been applied to forecast the freak wave occurrence in two short crested mixed sea states, one with a directional wave spectrum based on the measured surface elevation data at the coast of Yura, and the other one with a typical directional bimodal Torsethaugen wave spectrum. It is shown in the two cases that the proposed novel simulation method can offer more accurate forecasting results than those obtained from the traditional linear simulation method or by using Rayleigh distribution model. It is also demonstrated in this article that the proposed novel simulation method is more efficient than the nonlinear simulation method.