TABLE OF CONTENTS This application provides a statistical representation for a shallow-water wave height distribution. The Beta-Rayleigh distribution is expressed in familiar wave parameters: H mo (energy-based wave height), T p (peak spectral wave period), and d (water depth). After constructing the distribution, other statistically based wave height estimates such as H rms , H mean , H 1/10 can be easily computed. The Beta-Rayleigh distribution features a finite upper bound corresponding to the breaking wave height, and the expression collapses to the Rayleigh distribution in the deepwater limit. The methodology for this portion of the application is taken exclusively from Hughes and Borgman (1987).
Economic coastal engineering design requires accurate specification of the characteristics of the irregular wave field in nearshore waters. In the absence of a fully deterministic understanding of irregular water waves, coastal engineers often describe the sea surface in terms of meaningful wave field parameters which appear to vary in a consistent and predictable manner.
An important and useful statistical descriptor of irregular waves is the wave height distribution. It provides knowledge of the range of wave heights under a given sea condition, as well as the probability of occurrence of a particular wave height within the range. This knowledge can be used to better represent the effects of irregular waves in coastal engineering calculations.
The Rayleigh distribution has proven to be a reliable measure of the wave height distribution for waves in deep water. It is theoretically valid for...
