#3Introduction

Ocean surface waves cause periodic loads on all sorts of man-made structures in the sea. It
does not matter whether these structures are fixed or floating and on the surface or deeper
in the sea. Most structures respond in some way to the wave-induced periodic loads.
Examples of such response include accelerations, harmonic displacements and internal loads
in ships as well as fixed structures.

Waves and the resulting ship motions cause added resistance, reduced sustained speed
(with associated longer travel times) and increased fuel consumption for ships. Also local
erosion near pipelines and other small structures on the sea bed can be caused by waves.
The ship’s responses can impair safety via phenomena such as shipping water on deck or
wave slamming.

In short, there is every reason to need to know about waves - the topic of this chapter-
before one goes on with the discussion of all sorts of hydrodynamic problems in later
chapters.

#11 Wind generated waves

A sea is a train of waves driven by the prevailing local wind field. The waves are short-crested
with the lengths of the crests only a few (2-3) times the apparent wavelength. Also, sea
waves are very irregular; high waves are followed unpredictably by low waves and vice versa.
Individual wave crests seem to propagate in different directions with tens of degrees
deviation from the mean direction. The crests are fairly sharp and sometimes even small
waves can be observed on these crests or there are dents in the larger wave crests or
troughs. The apparent or virtual wave period varies continuously, as well as the virtual or
apparent wave length.

12

A swell is waves which have propagated out of the area and local wind in which they were
generated. They are no longer dependent upon the wind and can even propagate for
hundreds of kilometers through areas where the winds are calm. Individual waves are more
regular and the crests are more rounded than those of a sea. The lengths of the crests are
longer, now several (6-7) times the virtual wave length. The wave height is more predictable,
too. If the swell is high, 5 to 6 waves of approximately equal heights can pass a given point
consecutively. If the waves are low, they can stay low for more than a minute even though
the surface elevation remains irregular.

#14

The origin of the coordinate system is at the still water level with the positive z-axis directed
upward; most relevant values of z will be negative. The still water level is the average water
level or the level of the water if no waves were present. The x-axis is positive in the direction
of wave propagation.

The highest point of the wave is called its crest and the lowest point on its surface is the
trough. If the wave is described by a sine wave, then its amplitude ζa is the distance from the
still water level to the crest, or to the trough for that matter. The subscript a denotes
amplitude, here. The wave height H is measured vertically from wave trough level to the
wave crest level.

#18

In order to use this linear theory with waves, it will be necessary to assume that the water
surface slope is very small. This means that the wave steepness is so small that terms in the
equations of the waves with a magnitude in the order of the steepness-squared can be
ignored. Using the linear theory holds here that harmonic displacements, velocities and
accelerations of the water particles and also the harmonic pressures will have a linear
relation with the wave surface elevation. The profile of a simple wave with a small steepness
looks like a sine or a cosine and the motion of a water particle in a wave depends on the
distance below the still water level.

#19

This velocity potential of the harmonic waves has to fulfill four requirements:

1. Continuity condition or Laplace equation, which means that the fluid is homogeneous and
incompressible.

2. Sea bed boundary condition, which means that the sea bed - at h here – is impervious.
The vertical velocity of water particles at the sea bed is zero (no-leak condition)

3. Free surface dynamic boundary condition, which means that the pressure in the surface
of the fluid is equal to the atmospheric pressure. The pressure, p, at the free surface of the
fluid, z = ζ, is equal to the atmospheric pressure, p0. This requirement for the pressure is
called the dynamic boundary condition at the free surface. The Bernoulli equation for an
unstationary irrotational flow yields the linearized form of the free surface dynamic
boundary condition

4. Free surface kinematic boundary condition, which means that a water particle in the
surface of the fluid remains in that surface, the water surface is impervious too. The relation
between T and λ (or equivalently ω and k) follows from the boundary condition that the
vertical velocity of a water particle at the free surface of the fluid is identical to the vertical
velocity of that free surface itself (no-leak condition); this is a kinematic boundary condition.
(We do not initially know the location of the free surface: this added complication sets
HYDROdynamics apart from fluid mechanics of mechanical engineers & aerodynamicists)
A substitution of the expression for the wave potential (FSD BC) in FSK BC gives the relation
between wave frequency (and period) and the wavenumber (or wavelength). This shows
that waves with different wavelengths travel at different speeds and hence it is called the
“dispersion relation”. For any arbitrary water depth h, k appears in a nonlinear way in
dispersion relation, hence the equation will generally have to be solved iteratively.

This regular wave relation cannot be used to describe the relation between the average
wave length and the average wave period of an irregular sea. However in a more regular
swell, this relation can be used with an accuracy of about 10 to 15 per cent.

The phase velocity increases with the wave length (k = 2 π/ λ); water waves display
dispersion in that longer waves move faster than shorter ones. As a result of this
phenomena, sailors often interpret swell (long, relatively low wind-generated waves which
have moved away from the storm that generated them) as a warning of an approaching
storm.

In shallow water, the phase velocity is independent of the wave period; these waves are not
dispersive. This celerity, √gh , is called the critical velocity. This velocity is of importance
when sailing with a ship at shallow water. Generally, the forward ship speed will be limited
to about 80% of the critical velocity, to avoid excessive still water resistance or squat
(combined sinkage and trim). Indeed, only a ship which can plane on the water surface is
able to move faster than the wave which it generates.

#20

The kinematics of a water particle is found from the velocity components in the x- and
z-directions, obtained from the velocity potential and the dispersion relation.

#21

Integration of eqns for the velocities yield the water particle displacements & trajectories.
Trajectories of water particles are ellipses in the general case. The water motion obviously
decreases as one moves deeper below the water surface. Amplitude is reduced to zero at
the sea bed, in accordance with the sea bed boundary condition; the trajectories become
horizontal line elements there. In deep water, the trajectories of the water particles become
circles, with radii which decrease exponentially with distance below the surface. Radius of
the circle at the surface equals wave amplitude. Velocity of the water particles will have a
constant magnitude in this case and that it is always directed tangentially to the trajectory
circle. The acceleration vector is also always perpendicular to the velocity vector (directed
towards centre of the circle).

#25

The first term in pressure equation is a hydrostatic part. The time-independent second term,
the radiation pressure, causes the so-called second order wave drift loads on a structure.
The harmonic third term causes the so-called first order wave loads on a structure; its
time-averaged contribution is zero.

The total wave energy per unit sea surface area is actually the time-averaged wave energy
density. The energy in a wave and the velocity at which this energy will be transported is of
importance for, among others, the propulsion resistance caused by the waves generated by
ships.

#27

cg is the velocity at which energy will be transported in the waves, the wave group velocity.
In deep water, the wave group velocity is exactly half the phase velocity. In shallow water,
the group velocity is identical to the phase velocity.

The characteristics of the wave phase velocity and the wave group velocity are shown in
figure. The sequence of images shows a plane progressive wave system advancing into calm
water. The water is darkened and the lower part of the water depth is not shown. The
interval between the successive images is 0.25 seconds and λ/ h ≈ 2. The wave energy is
contained within the heavy diagonal lines and propagates with the group velocity. These
wave group boundaries propagate slowly with time, due to dispersion. The position of a
single wave crest is connected in successive images by the lighter line; this advances with
the wave phase velocity. Each wave crest moves with the phase velocity, equal to twice the
group velocity of the wave field boundaries. Thus each wave crest vanishes at the front end
and, after the wave maker is turned off, arises from calm water at the back.