Recap

• Coastal and ocean engineering primarily

concerned with the effects of surface gravity
waves
• Surface gravity waves:
– usually generated by wind, where the restoring
force is that of the earth’s gravity.
– have relatively short period and are energetic,
– are responsible for most effects of the sea on the
coastline and on engineering structures in or
beside it.
Representation of the energy contained in the
surface waves of the ocean
 Various Gravity waves, their causes and periods

Phenomenon Cause Period

Wind wave (sea state) Wind shear <15 s
Swell wave (swell state) Wind wave <30 s
Surf beat Wave group 1-5 min
Seiche Wind variation 2-40 min
Harbour resonance Surf beat, tsunami 2-40min
Tide Gravitational attraction ≈12 or 24 hr
Storm surge Wind stress and atmospheric pressure 1-30 day
variation
 Two types of waves within the wind-generated
gravity wave range
• Wind waves:
– when the waves are being worked on by the wind that
raised them.
– They are relatively short and steep with short crest
lengths.
– One would expect to have a relationship between the wind
speed and the wave height and length.

• Swell waves:
– when the waves have escaped the influence of the
generating wind, and wind waves have interacted and
coalesced to form higher but longer waves with long
crests.
 3 Linear Wave Theory
• Wave theories are approximations to reality that may
describe some phenomena well under certain conditions.

• They may fail to describe other phenomena that violate

those assumptions.

• Wave phenomenon of interest must be described reasonably

well by the theory adopted:

- Shore protection design depends on the ability to

predict wave surface profiles and water motion, & on
the accuracy of such predictions.
 Small-amplitude/linear/first order/Airy Wave
thoery and other theories
• Theory attributed to Airy in 1845.
• Referred to as small amplitude, linear or
first order wave theory because of the
simplifying assumptions made in its
derivation.
• Other wave theories are
– Stoke’s (second-, third-, and fifth-order)
– Cnoidal
(approximations to the wave form of steep
waves)
Sir George Gabriel Stokes
1819-1903
3.1 Derivation of the linear Wave thoery
• Real water waves:
– Propagate in a viscous fluid;
– Propagate over an irregular bottom (variable permeability)
• Main body of fluid motion can be considered
irrotational.
– This is because viscous effects concentrated in thin layers
near the bottom or the surface.
• Water can be assumed incompressible, so exist:
– Velocity Potential
– Stream Function
• Numerous other assumptions must also be made for
the simplification of mathematical analysis.
Boundary Value Problem for Periodic
Water Waves
 Governing Differential Equation
• Considering irrotational and incompressible fluid, there exists:
– Velocity potential function
– Stream function
• Hence continuity equation must be satisfied:
𝛻. 𝐮 = 0
or
𝛻. 𝛻𝜙 = 0
which leads to the Laplace equation and for two-dimensional water
waves it is
𝜕2𝜙 𝜕2𝜙
2
+ 2 =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑧
• Comments on Laplace equation:
– Linear
– thus the property of superposition
– Hence solutions can be added and subtracted to build up solutions for
different problems of interest.
 Kinematic Boundary
Conditions

• Certain physical conditions must be satisfied by

fluid velocities at the boundaries such as:
– Bottom that is fixed;
– Water surface that is free i.e. free to deform under the
influence of forces.
• The conditions on the water particle kinematics is
called kinematic boundary condition.
• There must be no flow across the interface or
else there will be no surface or interface.
• Condition requires:
– The component of the fluid velocity normal to the
surface be related to the local velocity of the
surface.
– If the surface does not change with time, then
𝐮. 𝐧 =0; that is, the velocity component normal to
the surface is zero.
 Bottom Boundary
Condition (BBC)

• Carrying out the dot product and simplifying

we have
𝑑ℎ
𝑤= −𝑢 on 𝑧 = −ℎ 𝑥
𝑑𝑥
• For horizontal bottom 𝑤 = 0 on 𝑧 = −ℎ.
𝑤 𝑑ℎ
• For sloping bottom = − suggesting that
ℎ 𝑑𝑥
the flow at the bottom is tangent to the
bottom.
 Dynamic Free Surface
Boundary Conditions
(DFSBC)
• Fixed (in space) surfaces can support pressure variations.
• Free surfaces (air-water interface) cannot support variations in pressure
across the interface.
• Hence a second boundary condition is required since in the
• water wave problem the position of the upper boundary is not known.
• The Bernoulli equation is applied on the free surface such that the
pressure on the free surface is uniform along the wave form.
𝜕𝜙 1 2 2
𝑝𝜂
+ 𝑢 + 𝑤 + + 𝑔𝑧 = 𝐶 𝑡
𝜕𝑡 2 𝜌
• Where 𝑝𝜂 is a constant and is usually taken as the gauge pressure i.e.
𝑝𝜂 = 0.
• Hence, we are considering free wave motion rather than being forced or
coupled such as that by wind or the interaction of wind and wave
both.(not applicable for very short waves where restoring force is
surface tension)
Lateral Bounday Conditions

• For waves that are periodic in space and time

the boundary condition is expressed as a
periodicity condition:
𝜙 𝑥, 𝑡 = 𝜙 𝑥 + 𝐿, 𝑡
𝜙 𝑥, 𝑡 = 𝜙 𝑥, 𝑡 + 𝑇
where 𝐿 is the wave length and 𝑇 is the wave
period.
 3.2.1 Solution and the Linear Wave Equations

• The resulting solution for ∅ is given by

2𝜋
𝑇 cosh ℎ+𝑧 2𝜋𝑥 2𝜋𝑡
𝐿
𝜙 = −𝑔𝐻 sin −
4𝜋 2𝜋 𝐿 𝑇
cosh ℎ
𝐿
• Substitution of the this solution in the two linearized boundary conditions
yield the surface elevation with time, from the still water level (referred
to as excursion)
𝐻 𝑥 𝑡 𝐻
𝜂= cos 2 𝜋 − = cos 𝑘𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡 Note: Surface profile is sinusoidal
2 𝐿 𝑇 2
 𝑔𝑇 𝑔𝐿
• The wave celerity, is found as 𝐶 = tanh 2𝜋ℎΤ𝐿 = tanh 2𝜋ℎΤ𝐿
2𝜋 2𝜋
and is known as the dispersion relation:
It indicates that waves with different periods
travel with different wave speeds.
• To satisfy the periodicity requirement
Wave number, 𝑘 = 2𝜋Τ𝐿
and
wave frequency, 𝜔 = 2𝜋Τ𝑇
• Wave Length as a function of depth and wave period may be obtained as
𝑔𝑇 𝑔𝑇
𝐿= tanh 𝑘ℎ = tanh 𝑘ℎ
2𝜋 𝜔
• The dispersion equation is then given by
𝜔2 = 𝑔𝑘 tanh 𝑘ℎ
• This may be solved iteratively, for the wave number and hence
wavelength and celerity given the wave period and depth.