Ocean Wave Simulation for Engineering Design

Simulation procedures have not been used extensively in coastal engineering and ocean wave problems although several oil companies have used these techniques. The following study was undertaken to make the procedures more available to the engineer working with ocean wave problems and to investigate possible ways of increasing the efficiency and the realism of the ocean wave and force simulations produced. Techniques for simulating ocean waves are most applicable when the response of the structure is complicated and perhaps involves other random environmental factors which may be introduced by concurrent simulations. The accuracy of the wave simulation is greatest for low amplitude waves and decreases for large steep waves. The degree of loss in accuracy for the higher and steeper waves deserves further research. Simulation techniques have the disadvantage of being time consuming and usually requiring the use of computers. Analytic solutions are to be preferred if feasible. Sometimes part of a problem can be solved analytically and then the intractable parts processed by simulation. A detailed search for shortcuts and approximations before proceeding with the actual simulation will often result in sizeable savings of computer time.