Abstract
This paper presents a modeling study conducted on the central Oregon coast for wave resource characterization, using the unstructured grid Simulating WAve Nearshore (SWAN) model coupled with a nested grid WAVEWATCH III® (WWIII) model. The flexibility of models with various spatial resolutions and the effects of open boundary conditions simulated by a nested grid WWIII model with different physics packages were evaluated. The model results demonstrate the advantage of the unstructured grid-modeling approach for flexible model resolution and good model skills in simulating the six wave resource parameters recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission in comparison to the observed data in Year 2009 at National Data Buoy Center Buoy 46050. Notably, spectral analysis indicates that the ST4 physics package improves upon the ST2 physics package’s ability to predict wave power density for large waves, which is important for wave resource assessment, load calculation of devices, and risk management. In addition, bivariate distributions show that the simulated sea state of maximum occurrence with the ST4 physics package matched the observed data better than with the ST2 physics package. This study demonstrated that the unstructured grid wave modeling approach, driven by regional nested grid WWIII outputs along with the ST4 physics package, can efficiently provide accurate wave hindcasts to support wave resource characterization. Our study also suggests that wind effects need to be considered if the dimension of the model domain is greater than approximately 100 km, or O (102 km).
Highlights
Third-generation wave models have been significantly developed in recent years to capture nonlinear wave–wave interaction dynamics and nearshore shallow water hydrodynamics
This paper presents the results of using the unstructured grid Simulating WAve Nearshore (SWAN) model to simulate the six International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) This wavepaper resource parameters at ofa using modelthedomain off thegrid central
The results demonstrate the advantages of unstructured grid wave models in terms of their computational
Summary
Third-generation wave models have been significantly developed in recent years to capture nonlinear wave–wave interaction dynamics and nearshore shallow water hydrodynamics. The most popular third-generation phase-average spectral models, such as WAVEWATCH III® (WWIII) [1], the Wave Action Model (WAM) [2], Simulating WAve Nearshore (SWAN) [3], TOMAWAC [4], and MIKE-21 Spectral Wave (MIKE-21 SW) [5] models, have been widely validated in many coastal waters and open oceans worldwide. The WAM was used to estimate wave energy resources in Europe. Both the WAM and WWIII are most commonly used to simulate wind-generated waves in deep waters and provide open boundary conditions for simulating wave dynamics in intermediate and shallow water areas.
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