New procedure for determining equivalent deep-water wave height and design wave heights under irregular wave conditions

Abstract

Many coastal engineering designs utilize empirical formulas containing the Equivalent Deep-water Wave Height (EDWH), which is normally given a priori. However, no studies have explicitly discussed a method for determining the EDWH and the resulting design wave heights (DEWH) under irregular wave conditions. Unfortunately, it has been the case in many design practices that the EDWH is incorrectly estimated by dividing the Shallow-water Wave Height (SWH) at the structural position with its corresponding shoaling coefficient of regular wave. The present study reexamines the relationship between the Shallow-water Wave Height (SWH) at the structural position and its corresponding EDWH. Then, a new procedure is proposed to facilitate the correct estimation of EDWH. In this procedure, the EDWH and DEWH are determined differently according to the wave propagation model used to estimate the SWH. For this, Goda's original method for nonlinear irregular wave deformation is extended to produce values for linear shoaling. Finally, exemplary calculations are performed to assess the possible errors caused by a misuse of the wave height calculation procedure. The relative errors with respect to the correct values could exceed 20%, potentially leading to a significant under-design of coastal or harbor structures in some cases.

Keywords

• Irregular wave deformation
• Equivalent deep-water wave height
• Design wave height
• Nonlinear wave shoaling
• 2D wave propagation
• Wave setup