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Rayleigh Probability Distribution Applied To Random Wave Heights

This document discusses the Rayleigh probability distribution and its application to random ocean wave heights. Some key points: 1) Random wave heights follow a Rayleigh probability distribution, with the distribution defined based on parameters like the modal, mean, or root-mean-square wave height. 2) The Rayleigh distribution can be used to calculate the probability of exceedance, or the likelihood of waves being above a given height. 3) Important wave statistics like the significant wave height (Hs) can be derived from the Rayleigh distribution. Hs is defined as the average height of the largest one-third of waves.

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Samo Spontanost
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337 views

Rayleigh Probability Distribution Applied To Random Wave Heights

This document discusses the Rayleigh probability distribution and its application to random ocean wave heights. Some key points: 1) Random wave heights follow a Rayleigh probability distribution, with the distribution defined based on parameters like the modal, mean, or root-mean-square wave height. 2) The Rayleigh distribution can be used to calculate the probability of exceedance, or the likelihood of waves being above a given height. 3) Important wave statistics like the significant wave height (Hs) can be derived from the Rayleigh distribution. Hs is defined as the average height of the largest one-third of waves.

Uploaded by

Samo Spontanost
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RAYLEIGH PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION

APPLIED TO RANDOM WAVE HEIGHTS

In 1952, a British mathematician/oceanographer Prof. M.S. Longuet-Higgins, showed


that random wave heights, H, followed the Rayleigh Probability Distribution (named for
Lord Rayleigh who showed its applicability to the amplitude of sound waves in 1877).

Rayleigh Probability Density Function

The distribution of random wave heights may be described by a Rayleigh pdf with any of
the following forms:
2

f(H) = H
H2 exp( H
2H2 )
mode mode
2

f(H) H -exp( - -
= -7f - 2 7f -H
2- )

2 Hmean 4 Hmean

2
H2 -exp( - -
f(H) = 2 - H2 - )
HRMs HRMs

where the random values of H can be found once one of the following basic statistical
measures is known: ·

Hmode = modal or most common wave height


Hmean = mean or average wave height
HRMS = root-mean-square wave height.

Basic properties of the Rayleigh distribution indicate the following (given here without
proof):

0.16·~-------------------------

0.14

0.12 ·-------:- --------------'

.,;:: 0.1
:

'O
J!I
c 0.08

·="
~ 0.06
' .
-'---------------,

_______ ,_ __
0.04 .-,- ---------i--

0.02

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
I-I In 11nlk nf ft
Rayleigh Probability of Exceedence

The area under f(H) to the right of any value of H gives the probability of waves being
greater than H. This is often called the probability of exceedance, Q(H), and can be
computed as: . '

Q(H) = ff(H) dH
"'
H

This can be found using any of the three basic parameters Hmode. Hmean , or HRMS. The
simplest form uses HRMs and is given by

exp{- ~
2

Q(H) = }
Hnns

Note that Hnns is treated as a constant in the above equation and is used as a scaling
parameter to describe the general size of waves in the sea state. The random variable
is wave height, H, and the equation the gives the probability of wave heights being
equal to or greater than any value H. ·

Note that the probability of waves exceeding HRMs is then Q(HRMs) = exp(-1) = 0.368.

Or, in a sea with, say Hrms = 2.66 meters, the probability of heights exceeding 5 meters
is Q(5m) =exp(-(5.0/2.66) 2 ) =0.029 or 2.9 percent.

Relationship Among Wave Height Statistics

In addition to HRMs. oceanographers, ocean engineers, and naval architects routinely


use a different statistical wave height - the significant wave height, Hs or H113 - to
describe the general height of waves in a random sea.

The significant wave height is defined as the average height of the largest 1/3 of the
waves in the random sea, or of the top 33% of the waves in the random sea.

The significant height can be derived from the Rayleigh pdf. Referring to the next figure,
Hs can be found by recognizing that: (1) we want to consider the portion of the pdf
representing the top 1/3 or 33% of waves which is shaded in the figure and (2) the
significant height is the average of these waves so it is the value of H at the centroid of
the shaded area.

Working out the details, it can be shown that:

2
0.16 ~----------~-

0.14. -------,- -·-·······o·· ------------.---

' '
0.12
-------- to;;0;;0CiJa18ii3ofo:a-a·
~ 0.1
'O
""
c: 0.08 -······----.---
Hs or:H1 /3 at :
·= 0.06
:r -1~-.-1_- ___,_,__________ ;-eentreid-jof-shade!}--
"' area :
0.04 ------------.-

0.02

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
H In units of ft

Similar arguments can be applied to find other wave statistics. For example, the
average of the top 10% or 1/10 of the waves is found as the centroid of the top 10% of
the area under the Rayleigh pdf. The result is:

H 1110 =l.27 H 8 = 1.80 HRMS

The average of the top 1% or 1/100 of the waves is found as the centroid of the top 1%
of the area under the Rayleigh pdf as

HI/JOO = 1.67 H s = 2.36 H RMS


(
\
In addition, it has been shown that a good estimate of the maximum wave height in a
wave record may be found from

where J is the number of waves in the random sea. For example, the maximum wave
height in a random sea that had J=2000 waves and a significant wave height, Hs =
10m, would be estimated as

Hmax = 0.707 )ln2000 (lOm) = 19.5m


As a Rule-of-Thumb, the maximum wave height is usually about two-times the
significant wave height, i..e. Hmax-2 Hs.

It is noted, however, that larger and more rare or extreme waves can occur. Rogue or
freak waves are sometimes defined as individual waves whose height is larger than 2Hs
or 2.5 Hs. From the Rayleigh distribution, the probability of a wave exceeding 2.5 Hs is
given as
Q(2.5H8 ) = exp{ - (2.5H2 8 )2} = exp {-12.5}= 0.00000374
Hrm,
(
I_
Thus, taking the inverse, we would expect only one wave out of 267,326 waves to
exceed 2.5 Hs.
3

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