Small amplitude wave theory

• Wave Energy:
Small amplitude wave theory
• Wave Energy:
Small amplitude wave theory
• Example: Calculate the wave energy (total, Kinetic, and
potential) and power for the a wave if its height is 1m, wave
period = 4s, water depth=5m and wave length =22.2m.
• Solution:
• Given: H=1m; T=4s; d=5m; L=22.2m
• Find: E, P=?
Small amplitude wave theory
• Wave power: Wave power, P, is the wave energy per unit time
transmitted in the direction of wave propagation, which is the
product of the force acting on a vertical plane normal to the direction
of wave propagation times the particle flow velocity across this
plane. Mathematically:
 Small amplitude wave theory
• The n varies with the relative depth; where n increases from 0.5 in deep water to 1.0 in shallow
water. n can be interpreted as the fraction of the mechanical energy in a wave that is transmitted
forward each wave period.
• For a wave train, considering the reflected or dissipated energy to be negligible, the conservation
of energy per unit time requires that:

• If we draw lines orthogonal to the wave crests, and the spacing of the orthogonals is B, we can
write the energy between two orthogonals as BE and therefore:
Small amplitude wave theory
• Commonly, waves are predicted for some deep water location and
then must be transformed to some intermediate or shallow water
depth nearshore using Eq. (38). For this, Eq. (38) becomes

(39)
Small amplitude wave theory

• Example: A wave in water 100m deep has a period of 10s and a height of 2m.
When it has propagated into a water depth of 10m without refracting and
assuming energy gains and losses can be ignored. Determine the wave height,
power and the water particle velocity and pressure at a point 1 m below the still
water level under the wave crest.
Solution: Given: d=100m: H=2m & T=10s
Calculate L at d=10m

Calculate L, gT 2  2d 
L tanh  
Using dispersion 2  L 
relationship L = 156 m
d/L = 100/156= 0.64 >0.5 (deep water)
Hence, Lo = 156 m & H=Ho=2m

L = 93.3 m
d/L =10/ 93.3=0.11
k = 2π/93.3 = 0.0673m-1
Small amplitude wave theory
• Example:
Find H at d=10m Assuming no refraction i.e. B/Bo=1

Power:

where

0.874  1000  9.81  1.972  93.3 

P  38806.51watts
10  8 

Small amplitude wave theory

• Velocity:

  1.97  cosh0.067910  1

u   1  1.01m / s
 10  sinh 0. 0673  10 
w  0m / s

Pressure:
Small amplitude wave theory
• Wave breaking: Reduction in wave energy and height in the surf zone due
to limited water depth.
• Miche (1944) has given the limiting condition for wave breaking in any
water depth as:

• Here H/L= wave steepness.

• In deep water, tanh(2πd/L)  1, therefore:

• In shallow water, tanh(2πd/L)  2πd/L, therefore:

• Eq. (56) shows that wave height is limited by water depth.

•
Small amplitude wave theory
• Types of breaking waves:
Small amplitude wave theory
• Types of breaking waves:
• Spilling breaker: The wave crest
becomes unstable, and cascades down
the shoreward face of the wave,
producing a foamy water surface (Fig.a).

(Fig.a).
• Plunging breaker: The crest curls over
the shoreward face of the wave and (Fig.b).
falls into the base of the wave,
resulting in a high splash (Fig.b).
• Collapsing breaker: The crest remains
unbroken while the lower part of the (Fig.c).
shoreward face steepens and the falls,
producing an irregular turbulent water
surface (Fig.c).
• Surging breaker: The crest remains (Fig.d).
unbroken and the front face of the
wave advances up the beach with
minor breaking (Fig.d).
Small amplitude wave theory
• Types of breaking waves:
• Breaker type may be correlated to the surf similarity parameter,
ξo, defined as:

Where, tanβ is beach slope

• Under mild beach slope and small wave steepness the spilling
breaker occurs.
• For a relatively steeper beach slope and higher wave steepness,
plunging breaker can be observed.
• Under extremely steep slopes of the beach the surging breaker is
observed
Small amplitude wave theory
• Although Eq.(56), gives an idea about the wave height at breaking, for design
purposes it is not enough to use this relationship.
• A number of laboratory and field investigations have been carried out to study the
wave breaking phenomenon at various slopes. Some of this information is provided
in Figs. below.

m=beach slope

Figure. Dimensionless breaker height Figure. Dimensionless breaker depth versus

versus deep water wave steepness breaker steepness for various beach slopes

Remember
Small amplitude wave theory
• Given the beach slope, the un-refracted deep water wave height, Ho’, and
the wave period one can calculate the deep water wave steepness and
then determine the breaker height, Hb, from Figure below.

m=beach slope

Figure: Dimensionless breaker height and class versus bottom slope and deep water
steepness. (Modified from U.S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center, 1984.)
 Small amplitude wave theory
• And then using the breaker height, Hb, break depth,
db, can be calculated using figure below:

m=beach slope

Figure: Dimensionless breaker depth versus bottom slope and breaker steepness. (Modified
from U.S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center, 1984.)
Small amplitude wave theory

• Example: What is the wave height and water depth at breaking for
1-m high 4-sec period wave shoaling on a 1:10 slope in a wave
tank with water depth of 5m before the slope? What type of
breaker would you expect?

m=beach slope
Small amplitude wave theory
• Example: What is the wave height and water depth at breaking for 1-m
high 4-sec period wave shoaling on a 1:10 slope in a wave tank with water
depth of 5m before the slope? What type of breaker would you expect?
•

Using dispersion relation, calculate L;

Calculate deep water wave length, Lo;

Calculate un-refracted deep water wave height, H o’;

m=beach slope
Calculate breaking wave height, Hb;
Small amplitude wave theory
• Calculate breaking depth, db,

m=beach slope
Small amplitude wave theory
• Wave Runup: After the wave breaking, the remaining
energy causes the water to run up the face of the beach or
sloping surface of a structure. The definition of the wave
runup (R) is shown schematically in Fig.

tanα= beach slope

Figure: Schematic for wave runup (Sorensen, 1997)

• Figure (next slide) shows the experimental data for

smooth, planar and impermeable slopes with
monochromatic waves and with ds/Ho’ between 1 and 3.
r is determined from table and run-up on a smooth, impermeable surface is determined from
figure
Small amplitude wave theory
• Therefore, the wave runup on a given surface can be found by first
determining R from Fig. below and then multiplying it with r from
Table for the given surface.

SWL

ds
Sloping
beach

Cotα =1/tanα

Figure. Dimensionless runup on smooth impermeable slopes versus bottom slope and
incident deep water wave steepness; 1 < ds/H0’<3.
(Modified from U.S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center, 1984.)
Small amplitude wave theory
• The effect of surface conditions of the slope may be introduced
using the data given in Table below. In this table,
 Small amplitude wave theory

• Example: Consider the deep water wave (depth=100, wave period =10 s and
wave height = 2 m.) propagating toward the shore without refracting. The
wave breaks and runs up on a 1:10 grass covered slope having a toe depth
of 4 m. Determine the breaking wave height and the wave runup elevation
on the grass-covered slope.
• Solution:
• For a deep water un-refracted wave height of 2 m (Ho= Ho’) and a period of
10s, we have:
• Then, from figure for m=0.1;
Small amplitude wave theory
For breaking wave height

m=1/tanα
Small amplitude wave theory
• Runup:
• From Figure , since ds/Ho’= 4/2 = 2, at cot (α) = 10

Cotα =1/tanα
Small amplitude wave theory

ravg=0.875
Small amplitude wave theory

Since; R/Ho’=0.85

on smooth surface

on grass
Wave Setup – Example
Wave Setup
Example (solution)