Aalborg Universitet
Characterization of Wave Climate at Hanstholm Location with Focus on the Ratio
between Average and Extreme Waves Heights
Margheritini, Lucia; Frigaard, Peter; Stratigaki, V.
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9th ewtec 2011
Publication date:
2011
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Link to publication from Aalborg University
Citation for published version (APA):
Margheritini, L., Frigaard, P., & Stratigaki, V. (2011). Characterization of Wave Climate at Hanstholm Location
with Focus on the Ratio between Average and Extreme Waves Heights. In A. S. Bahaj (Ed.), 9th ewtec 2011 :
Proceedings of the 9th European Wave and Tidal Conference, Southampton, UK, 5th-9th September 2011
University of Southampton.
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Characterization of Wave Climate at Hanstholm
Location with Focus on the Ratio between Average
and Extreme Waves Heights
L. Margheritini1, P. Frigaard1, V. Stratigaki 2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University, 2Department of Civil Engineering, Ghent University
Department of Civil Engineering · Sohngaardsholmsvej 57 · 9000 Aalborg, Denamrk
Technologiepark 904, Ghent, Zwijnaarde, B-9052, Belgium
1
lm@civil.aau.dk
pf@civil.aau.dk
3
Vicky.Stratigaki@UGent.be
1
The wave energy sector is in need of showing positive experience
from the real sea trial in order to prove its feasibility. For this
purpose, an accurate knowledge of wave conditions at the
selected location of installation is fundamental. A design
challenge for wave energy devices is the large differences
between the extreme wave conditions in which the device is
designed to survive and the average wave conditions for which
the device is to be optimised. Indeed, the ratio between extreme
loads and operational loads has been identified to be a
fundamental factor for the design and the cost analysis of the
wave energy units. The present paper provides an estimate of
everyday wave conditions at Hanstholm location, by mean of
scatter diagrams for different locations within the harbour
vicinity. Results on wave heights transformation from offshore to
shore realized with numerical model for operational and extreme
waves are then presented and compared in different strategic
points for WECs installation in the proximity of Hanstholm
harbour within the Danish Wave Energy Centre (DanWEC).
Deployment of WECs, Design Waves, Operational Conditions.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Danish Wave Energy Centre (DanWEC) has been
realized because of participated desire to market the trial wave
energy projects which are already on the way to Hanstholm,
namely WaveStar, Waveplane and Dexa [1]. Additionally, the
center will contribute at creating a local base for knowledge,
education and possibly a workplace which will be leased out
to trial projects. It is therefore likely that different developers
will deploy their wave energy devices during the next years in
this location. The DanWEC is a part of Hanstholm harbour in
the North-West of Denmark (Fig. 1). The location is
particularly challenging for the construction of a harbour and
very interesting for the establishment of a wave energy centre
due to its wave conditions. It is indeed because of the
proximity of the Harbour, inaugurated in the 1967, that long
time wave measurements are available. The areas South of
Hanstholm is characterized by the beaches and sand dunes on
the West coast. East of Hanstholm the landscape consists of
reefs and cliffs. The main part of the harbour is characterized
by the fishing industry. Today Hanstholm harbour began a
process of expansion and modernization that includes the
creation of the DanWEC.
Successful demonstration of full scale wave energy
converters is one of the primary challenges of the sector,
especially when discussing floating devices. The loads that
devices have to survive during storm conditions are much
greater than the loads during operation conditions to such an
extent that some WECs have been developed to include one
“storm mode” by either removing the most delicate parts out
of the water [2], or by submerging entirely for protection and
accepting a reduced or nil power production when the
significant wave height exceeds specific threshold [3]. Both
wave loads and wave power are proportional to the wave
height. It is also important to consider wave transformation
going from offshore conditions to close to shore that can result
in decreased wave power and loads.
The objectives of the present paper are to describe the wave
conditions in the proximity of Hanstholm harbour where the
DanWEC is located and to highlight the ration between
operation and extreme wave heights in three representative
points for potential WECs installations. Indication on the
wave resource will also be provided.
Fig. 1 Hanstholm harbour location.
II. WAVE DATA AND OFFSHORE WAVE CLIMATE
Wave data used in the present study come from different
buoys and time records [4][5]:
1) Operational conditions. Hanstholm (buoy 3110; 474 700
E, 6 332 100 N, 20 m. water depth. Duration: 01/11/0525/02/09). Fjaltring (buoy 2031; 441976 E, 6 259 466 N,
17.5 m. water depth. Duration: 11/08/99-25/02/09).
Hirtshals (buoy 1041; 524 559 E, 6 381 744 N, 17 m.
water depth. Duration: 11/12/91-25/02/09).
2) Extreme conditions. Hanstholm (buoy 3110; 474 700 E, 6
332 100 N, 20 m. water depth. Duration: from 19/5/1998
to 25/2/2009).
The buoy outputs are Hm0 and Tm01 calculated over 30
minutes:
Hm0 = 4 ⋅ m 0
Tm 01 =
Wave directions in Hanstholm have been distributed in
directions of 45°. The main wave direction results to be West
direction with 52.0% probability of occurrence, followed by
North-West and North directions with 27.10% and 10.28%
(Fig. 2).
Wave power has been calculated in deep water assumption
as:
Pwave = 0.49 ⋅ H S2 ⋅ (TP / 1.15)
(4)
(1)
m0
m1
(2)
+∞
m0 =
∫f
n
⋅ E ( f ) df
(3)
0
Where f is the frequency [s-1] and E(f) is the spectrum
energy density depending on the frequency [m2s].
A. Operational wave conditions
Hanstholm buoy is not directional and therefore the data
from the other buoys provided the information on
directionality. The angle of the incoming waves in Hanstholm
has been interpolated by a vectorial addition of the wave
directions in Hirtshals and Fjaltring. In occasions, the
vectorial addition could not be executed because the times of
the extracted data in the different buoys were not equal. In
those cases, a weighed mean has been calculated between the
next and the previous recordings from the specific buoy
(Fjaltring or Hirtshals buoy) as:
timeHai − timeX _ previ
DirX i = Dir _ timeX _ next i ⋅
timeX _ next i − timeX _ previ
timeHai − timeX _ previ
+ Dir _ timeX _ previ ⋅ 1 −
timeX _ next i − timeX _ previ
+
(3)
Where:
DirXi is the direction of the waves in the location (Hirtshals
or Fjaltring) in the time i (time from Hanstholm).
Dir_timeX_nexti is the direction of the waves in the
location (Hirtshals or Fjaltring) in the successive time to time i
from Hanstholm.
timeX_nexti is the time of the location successive to the
time i from Hanstholm.
timeHai is the time i from Hanstholm.
timeX_previ is the time of the location previous to the time i
from Hanstholm.
Dir_timeX_previ is the direction of the waves in the
location (Hirtshals or Fjaltring) in the previous time to time i
from Hanstholm [7].
Fig. 2 Directional offshore wave climate at Hanstholm buoy.
B. Design wave conditions
To determine the design wave height for specific return
period, the general procedure is from Liu and Frigaard [5] is
adopted. This makes use of “Peak Over Threshold method” to
select the storm events over the record and the choice of
Gambel or Weibull theoretical distributions for the extreme
wave height distribution by mean of Maximum Likelihood
Method or Least Square Method. A 90% fractal of the
confidence interval provides a design wave height = 8.0 m for
50 years return period.
In accordance to the standard the range of the wave peak
period TP is given by:
130
280
(5)
Corresponding to 10.3 s. < TP < 15.1 s.
III. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
The bathymetry at location comprehends an area going
from the Hanstholm buoy to shore, therefore including water
depth from 20 m. to 0 m. Transformation of waves from
offshore to three different locations (Fig.3) has been done
using the computer model MILDwave [8] for specific
combinations of Hm0 and Tp representative of offshore
operational and extreme conditions. The three close to shore
locations have coordinates:
• 1: 475400E, 6331700N; 9.26 m water depth.
• 2: 475900E, 6332100N; 11 m water depth.
• 3: 476500E, 6332500N; 14 m water depth.
be considered parallel to the top edge the figures, several
meters away out from them. The waves have been generated
in order to obtain the required wave height at the buoy
location (considered here to be the offshore incoming wave).
For incoming waves of 3 m and higher, points 1, 2 and 3
are bottom limited.
Fig. 3 Bathymetry and reference points 1, 2 and 3.
The waves are modelled as long crested irregular waves,
characterized by a JONSWAP spectrum (γ = 3.3) defined by
significant wave height Hmo and Tp. The wave directions
West (270°), North-West (315°) and North (0°) have been
simulated. The operational conditions were calculated for
water level at +0.00 m, while the extreme wave conditions for
a water level at +1.20 m.
In each simulation, a uniform rectangular grid is created
with cell spacing dx = 1.5 m and dy = 1.5 m. For the
applications of the “long” grid for West direction a cell
spacing of dx = 3.0 m is used. Several grids have been
constructed, according to each wave direction. Grid areas
situated above water level (dry land) are simulated as fully
transmitting, considering ‘land grid cells’ as ‘water grid cells’.
Fig. 4. Contour plot of the calculated Hm0 (W, Hm0 = 2.0 m, Tp = 5.9 s).
C. Numerical settings
No lateral sponge layers were used. At the top and bottom
boundaries, sponge layers have been added for absorption of
the generated waves. The width of each of the sponge layers is
equal or larger than: 3x “Wave Length”.
For each of the wave directions runs have been performed,
for operational and extreme conditions. In all simulations the
possibility that wave breaking occurs is taken into account.
The land area at the coastline is simulated as not reflecting,
in order to achieve a negligible amount of reflection from the
land. The waves that are propagating towards the coast are
being absorbed by the downwave sponge layer.
D. Contour plots
Results are here graphically presented by mean of contour
plots generated by the MILDwave program for few
representative cases (Fig.4-8). The model generation line is to
Fig. 5 Contour plot of the calculated Hm0 (W, Hm0 = 4.4 m, Tp = 9.1 s)
Fig. 6 Contour plot of the calculated Hm0 (N, Hm0 = 7.0 m, Tp=11.9 s)
E. Transformation matrices
For each direction, results are presented for various “7–
gauges” arrays, placed at distances according to the limits
suggested by the Coastal Engineering Manual (CEM) [9]. In
the matrices (Tables 1 and 2) only the results of significant
heights and peak periods for the third gauge of each array (i.e.
the central location) are given, after an analysis using
WaveLab.
There is a weak tendency for longer waves to lose less in
height than waves of the same height and shorter periods. The
point with the highest reduction in wave height when waves
are coming from West direction is point 2, located at 11.0 m
water depth. This is not straightforward considering that point
1, despite being at a shallower location, has the least wave
heights reduction for waves coming from the same direction.
Indeed point 1 is approximately 0.5 Km further West from
point 2 and 1 Km from point 3 and that could partially justify
the results. What is probably explaining the results better is
the shoaling, appreciable regularly in the studied wave
conditions only for point 1, for waves coming from West
direction. It is anyways difficult to explain local phenomena
dominated by bottom interactions of different incoming waves
and wave periods, such as the one under discussion now but
there is a noticeable difference between the three locations
under exam despite the relative small distance among them.
With regard to changes on the directionality, this has been
studied only for point 2. It appears that there is not a big
change in directionality when waves approach the shore from
Hantholm buoy to point 2: only in few cases the difference
from the incoming wave direction is above 15˚ and anyways
never more than 18˚.
TABLE 1. TRANSFORMATION MATRIX OF SELECTED OPERATIONAL
CONDITIONS FROM THE HANTHOLM BUOY TO POINTS 1, 2 AND 3 IN FIG.3,
WEST, NORTH-WEST AND NORTH DIRECTIONS. WATER LEVEL +0.0M
Fig. 7 Contour plot of the calculated Hm0 (NW, Hm0 = 3.5 m, Tp = 8.2 s).
Hmo
[m]
0.9
0.9
1.5
1.5
2.0
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.4
0.9
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.5
0.9
1.5
Fig. 8 Contour plot of the calculated Hm0 (NW, Hm0 = 8.5 m, Tp=13.1 s).
Buoy
Tp
[s]
5.4
7.8
5.7
7.3
5.9
7.0
7.1
7.6
8.2
9.1
5.2
5.7
5.9
7.1
8.1
5.1
5.6
θ
[˚]
271
278
271
283
273
282
280
283
286
280
316
316
315
316
317
1
1
Point 1
Hmo Tp
[m] [s]
0.9 5.4
1.1 7.8
1.0 5.7
1.9 7.3
1.9 5.9
2.2 7.0
2.8 7.1
3.3 7.6
3.3 8.2
2.9 9.1
0.7 5.2
1.2 5.7
1.7 5.9
2.5 7.1
3.0 8.1
0.6 5.1
1.0 5.6
Hmo
[m]
0.6
0.5
1.0
1.0
1.4
1.5
2.0
2.0
2.5
3.3
0.8
1.4
1.9
2.5
3.4
0.8
1.4
Point 2
Tp
[s]
5.4
7.8
5.7
7.3
5.9
7.0
7.1
7.6
8.2
9.1
5.2
5.7
5.9
7.1
8.1
5.1
5.6
θ
[˚]
279
289
285
298
288
290
291
300
300
302
318
319
319
322
327
359
357
Point 3
Hmo Tp
[m] [s]
0.7 5.4
0.7 7.8
1.0 5.7
1.1 7.3
2.0 5.9
1.5 7.0
2.0 7.1
2.5 7.6
3.0 8.2
3.5 9.1
0.8 5.2
1.4 5.7
1.9 5.9
2.4 7.1
3.4 8.1
0.9 5.1
1.4 5.6
All the extreme waves tested are bottom limited for point 1.
The highest wave reaching point 1 is 5.0 m in extreme
conditions corresponding to an incoming wave of 8.6 m from
North-West, Tp=13.1s with a water set-up of +1.2 m in a total
water depth of 10.26 m. In general, for the same offshore
conditions, the highest extreme waves arrive in point 3 where
under these circumstances some shoaling may occur. For the
mentioned offshore wave condition, the wave reaching point 3
is 8.1 m in a total water depth of 15.2 m.
TABLE 2. TRANSFORMATION MATRIX OF SELECTED EXTREME CONDITIONS
FROM THE HANTHOLM BUOY TO POINTS 1, 2 AND 3 IN FIG.3, NORTH-WEST
AND NORTH DIRECTIONS. WATER LEVEL +1.2M.
Hmo
[m]
7.0
8.6
7.0
8.5
Buoy
Tp
[s]
11.9
13.1
11.9
13.1
θ
[˚]
321
322
3
2
Point 1
Hmo
[m]
4.9
5.0
4.3
4.4
Point 2
Hmo
θ
[m]
[˚]
6.7 329
7.4 329
7.0 349
7.0 348
Point 3
Hmo
θ
[m]
[˚]
7.0 316
8.1 328
7.2 348
7.7 348
IV. CLOSE TO SHORE WAVE CLIMATE
It was then possible to extrapolate the scatter diagrams for
points 1, 2 and 3; in particular, directional scatter diagram of
point 2 is presented (Fig. 9), while for point 1 and 3 nondirectional results are reported (Tables 3, 4). The average
wave power associated to the different points is 5.86 kW/m
for pint 1, 4.20 kW/m for point 2 and 4.56 kW/m for point 3.
Again, the highest wave climate in point 1 may surprise as this
point is featuring the shallower water depth. Nevertheless
point 1 is the one further West among the three (and the west
direction is the main wave direction covering 52% of all
offshore incoming waves), but most of all because of the
occurrence of shoaling effects for operational conditions,
resulting in an increased wave height compared to offshore
conditions. If this is indeed the main reason, wave length
should be decreased as consequence of shoaling. This has not
been deeply investigated in the present report.
TABLE 3. WAVE CLIMATE IN POINT 1 = 5.86 KW/M.
Hs
[m]
Tp
[s]
Prob
Pwave
[kW/
m]
P*
prob
0.51.0
1.01.5
1.52.0
2.02.5
2.53.0
3.03.5
>3.5
0.83
1.18
1.83
2.3
2.81
3.29
3.78
5.55
7.11
6.74
7.04
7.55
7.79
9.39
0.60
0.14
0.10
0.06
0.05
0.03
0.00
1.65
4.24
9.60
15.86
25.43
35.84
57.15
0.99
0.59
0.93
0.97
1.33
0.90
0.16
TABLE 4. WAVE CLIMATE IN POINT 3 = 4.56 KW/M.
Hs
[m]
Tp
[s]
Prob
Pwave
[kW/
m]
P*
prob
0.51.0
1.01.5
1.52.0
2.02.5
2.53.0
3.03.5
>3.5
0.80
1.29
1.72
2.16
2.63
3.13
3.75
5.83
6.46
6.78
6.79
7.61
4.12
9.21
0.67
0.101
0.081
0.08
0.03
0.01
0.01
1.59
4.60
8.5
13.46
22.47
17.22
55.3
1.06
0.46
0.69
1.05
0.63
0.19
0.47
V. RATIO BETWEEN AVERAGE AND EXTREME WAVE HEIGHTS
From the results collected until now, it is possible to
present a ratio between the average and the extreme wave
heights at the three locations selected within the DanWEC in
the proximity of the Hantholm harbour and at the buoy.
The average wave height is defined for each wave climate
as:
Figure 9. Wave Climate in Point 2 = 4.20 kW/m.
0.49
(6)
Where Tm is the average wave climate period (= 5.67s, 7.31
s, 6.19 s and 6.61 s for the buoy, point 1, 2 and 3 respectively)
and Pwave the wave power calculated like in Eq. 4 [kW/m].
The extreme wave heights are the ones already presented in
Table 2. In Table 5 the results are summarized for the buoy
and points 1, 2 and 3 considering two different extreme wave
heights. Based on this definition, we can see that for the
specific case the extreme wave heights are between 3.9 and
6.8 times higher than average wave heights for the 4 points
taken into consideration in this study.
If we consider the Hpmean to be related to the income that a
developer may expect from the performance of its device
while Hextreme related to the cost of the device, we could
assume that we want the ratio Hpmean/ Hextreme to be as big as
possible. In this optic, it seems reasonable to prefer point 1 or
the buoy location to points 2 and 3. It is indeed possible to say
that passing from point 3 to point 1 there is 73% gain
considering 1stHextreme as the design wave height and 77%
when considering 2ndHextreme. A gain of 73% on this ration
could with some reason be considered as an economical gain
equal to 73%.
TABLE 5. SUMMARY OF AVERAGE AND TWO EXTREME WAVE HEIGHTS FOR
WAVE CLIMATES AT POINT 1, 2 AND 3.
Hpmean [m]
1st Hextreme [m]
2nd Hextreme [m]
Hpmean/1st Hextreme
Hpmean/2nd Hextreme
Buoy
1.54
8.6
7
0.18
0.22
Point 1
1.28
5.0
4.3
0.26
0.30
Point 2
1.18
7.4
7.0
0.16
0.17
Point 3
1.19
8.1
7.2
0.15
0.17
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The wave climate at location has been extensively studied
to taking the directionality into account. The main wave
direction is West direction. The wave climate offshore the
Hanstholm harbor is 6.55 kW/m with 98% of the energy flux
associated to the sectors N, NW and W.
The offshore extreme wave analysis has been performed on
direct wave measurements available from a buoy (non
directional) outside Hanstholm harbour at d=20 m. water
depth. The study resulted in a Hs50=8.0 m.
Wave transformation from offshore to 3 different close to
shore locations has been conducted with MILDwave for wave
conditions representative of the scatter diagram and of the
extreme waves, with different wave periods and a set up of
+1.2 m for extreme conditions. The average wave power
associated to the different points is 5.86 kW/m for pint 1, 4.20
kW/m for point 2 and 4.56 kW/m for point 3.
The average wave height = Hpmean has been defined as the
wave height that provides the average wave power when
multiplied by the average period of a specific wave climate in
the wave power equation. It is suggested that Hpmean is
proportional to the expected income while Hextreme is
proportional to the cost of the installation. It is therefore
suggested the ration Hpmean/ Hextreme is a valuable indicator of
the convenience of a location for wave energy installation.
In the case understudy, after comparison of the 4 different
Hpmean/ Hextreme it can be concluded that the choice of point 1
and 2 can result in a gain up to 73% on point 3. It is suggested
that the gain is proportional to an economic gain.
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[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
The
DanWEC
website
[online].
Available:
http://www.danwec.com/en/home.htm
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