Separation of regular waves by a transfer function method

Abstract

This paper presents a transfer function method (TFM) which can separate a regular wave field into incident and reflected waves based on the linear wave theory. The TFM uses specific transfer functions and corresponding convolution integrals to separate time series data measured in a combined partial standing wave system into incident and reflected waves. After this separation, estimation of the reflection coefficient becomes very easy. All manipulations have been performed in time domain. Furthermore, this method does not involve the calculation of wave heights and/or phase differences. The present method is demonstrated through numerical sample and physical model experiments carried out in a wave flume. Compared with other methods, the TFM gives much better estimates of the incident wave heights for physical model experiments in this study.