Coastal Engineering 45 (2002) 71 – 74

www.elsevier.com/locate/coastaleng

Simple and explicit solution of wave dispersion equation

Junke Guo*
Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Singapore
Received 1 May 2001; received in revised form 10 January 2002; accepted 1 February 2002

Abstract

In this study, a simple and explicit solution to the wave dispersion equation is derived based on Guo’s logarithmic matching.
The proposed solution has a maximum relative error of 0.75% for any water depth that is sufficient for practical calculation. It
can also be considered the first approximation for an iteration method if more accuracy is required. It may be useful under
practical conditions or for inclusion in wave computer models. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Linear wave theory; Dispersion equation; Wave number; Wave length; Wave celerity

1. Introduction asymptotic solutions for shallow water and deep water

are used respectively, i.e.,
Wave length, height, period, and flow depth are r2 ¼ ghk 2 ð2Þ
fundamental parameters for almost all wave-related
problems in waterway, port, coastal, and ocean engi- for shallow water h/L ! 0, and
neering. In practice, wave height, period, and flow
r2 ¼ gk ð3Þ
depth are given by field measurements. The wave
length is usually calculated by a dispersion equation, for deep water h/L ! l.
i.e., the relationship among wave length, period, and When the water depth h is comparable to the wave
flow depth, which is given by a wave theory. The length L, the wave table is usually used. The detailed
most popular dispersion equation is given by the procedures of using the wave table can be found in
linear wave theory many text books or design manuals like Kamphuis
r2 ¼ gktanhkh ð1Þ (2000) and Whalin (1984).
Of course, the solution of k in Eq. (1) can always
in which r = 2p/T is the angular frequency, T is the be found by using a numerical technique such as
wave period, g is the gravitational acceleration, k = 2p/ Newton – Raphson method, but such a technique
L is the wave number, L is the wave length, and h is requires iteration. For programming purpose, Hunt
the flow depth. (1979) proposed an excellent approximation to Eq.
Since Eq. (1) is nonlinear in terms of k, one cannot (1), i.e.,
find an analytical solution for k. In practice, two
x2
ðkhÞ2 ¼ x4 þ ð4Þ
X
6
2b
*
Fax: +65-6779-1635. 1þ db x
E-mail address: cveguoj@nus.edu.sg (J. Guo). b¼1

0378-3839/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 3 8 3 9 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 9 - X
72 J. Guo / Coastal Engineering 45 (2002) 71–74

pffiffiffiffiffi
where x ¼ rh= gh and d1 = 0.6, d2 = 0.35, d3 = 0.1608
465608, d4 = 0.0632098765, d5 = 0.0217540484, and
d6 = 0.0065407983. The weakness of this approxima-
tion is that it is cumbersome and not easy to use by a
hand calculator.
In this note, one will show that applying the
logarithmic matching proposed by Guo (2002), one
can get a simple and explicit solution to the dispersion
equation.

2. Logarithmic matching

Recently, Guo (2002) proposed a logarithmic

matching method. It states that for a complicated non-
linear problem or an experimental curve, if one can find Fig. 1. The scheme of the logarithmic matching.
two asymptotes, in extreme cases, which can be
expressed as logarithmic or (exponential) power func- In the above two equations, x0 is determined by
tions, then the logarithmic matching can merge the two  
asymptotes into a single composite solution. C1  C2
x0 ¼ exp ð9Þ
Specifically, suppose one can find the two asymp- K2  K1
totic solutions for a nonlinear problem, using an
analytic method or experimental method, the two and b p 0 is a transitional shape parameter that is
asymptotes can be expressed by or transformed into determined by a least-squares method (Griffiths and
the following: Smith, 1991).

y ¼ K1 lnx þ C1 ð5Þ
for xbx0, and 3. Solution of the dispersion equation
y ¼ K2 lnx þ C2 ð6Þ Before applying the logarithmic matching to the
for xHx0. In the two equations above, x is an dispersion Eq. (1), one needs to write it in a dimen-
independent variable, y is a dependent variable, K1 sionless form, i.e.,
and K2 are two slopes based on a logarithmic scale,  
hr 2
shown in Fig. 1, C1 and C2 are two intercepts, and x0 pffiffiffiffiffi ¼ khtanhkh ð10Þ
gh
is the location of the cross-point of the two asymp-
totes. For simplicity, one can assume that
Two matching models were proposed below. pffiffiffiffiffi
Model I (Guo, 2000) is x ¼ hr= gh and y ¼ kh ð11Þ
"  b #
K2  K1 x Then Eq. (10) becomes
y ¼ K1 lnx þ ln 1 þ þ C1 ð7Þ
b x0
x2 ¼ ytanhy: ð12Þ
and Model II (Guo, in press) is For shallow water, y ! 0, one then has
( "   #) y¼x ð13Þ
K1  K2 x b
y ¼ K2 lnx þ ln 1  exp  þ C2
b x0 which can be rewritten as
ð8Þ lny ¼ lnx ð14Þ
 J. Guo / Coastal Engineering 45 (2002) 71–74 73

Comparison of the above equation with Eq. (5) yields A numerical estimation of the above equation gives
that that
K1 ¼ 1 and C1 ¼ 0: ð15Þ b ¼ 2:4908 ð25Þ

For deep water, i.e., y ! l, Eq. (12) reduces to For simplicity, one can also find the value of b using
2 the collocation method at x = x0 = 1, i.e., the residual is
y¼x ð16Þ
made equal to 0 at x = 1.
which can be rewritten as 1 1
R jx¼1 ¼ 1  ð1  e1 Þ b tanh½ð1  e1 Þ b ¼ 0 ð26Þ
lny ¼ 2lnx ð17Þ
which gives that
Comparison of the above equation with Eq. (6) leads
b ¼ 2:5194 ð27Þ
to
K2 ¼ 2 and C2 ¼ 0: ð18Þ One can see that the two methods give the more or
According to Eq. (9), the cross-point of the two less same result. Eq. (25) is recommended in this note.
asymptotes occurs at Fig. 2 shows an excellent agreement between Eq.
  (21) where b = 2.4901 and a numerical solution. The
C1  C2 numerical solution is obtained as follows: Giving a
x0 ¼ exp ¼ 1: ð19Þ
K2  K1 value of y in Eq. (12), calculate the value of x. If one
Eqs. (13) and (16) are actually the dimensionless defines the relative error as
form of Eqs (2) and (3). ycalculated  ynumerical
Err ¼  100% ð28Þ
With K1, K2, C1, C2, and x0 available, two compo- ynumerical
site solutions may be constructed by Eqs. (7) and (8),
respectively. Since Eq. (12) is characterized by an Eq. (21) has an accuracy of 0.75% over 0 V x V l, as
exponential function, one then choose Model II for shown in Fig. 3. One can see that Eq. (21) is sufficient
this study. According to Eq. (8), one has for engineering calculations. In particular, it may be
useful under practical conditions or for inclusion in
1 b
lny ¼ 2lnx  lnð1  ex Þ ð20Þ wave computer models.
b In addition, if more accuracy is required, Eq. (21)
which can be rewritten as can be considered the first approximation for an
b 1
y ¼ x 2 ð1  ex Þ b ð21Þ

in which the transitional shape parameter b may be

determined by the least-squares method, i.e., minimiz-
ing the residual R in the transition region (Griffiths
and Smith, 1991), or the collocation method at
x = x0 = 1. In the present case, the residual is defined
according to Eq. (12), i.e.,
R ¼ x 2  ytanhy ð22Þ
Substituting Eq. (21) into the above equation gives
that
b 1 b 1
R ¼ x2  x2 ð1  ex Þ b tanh½x2 ð1  ex Þ b ð23Þ
Then the parameter b can be found by solving
Z l
D
R2 dx ¼ 0 ð24Þ
Db 0 Fig. 2. Comparison of Eq. (21) with a numerical solution.
74 J. Guo / Coastal Engineering 45 (2002) 71–74
Fig. 3. The relative error of the matching solution (21).
iteration method. It can speed up the numerical con-
vergence.
With wave number k available, one can calculate
the corresponding wave length L and celerity c by
2p L Thailand, vol. 1, pp. 151 – 160.
L¼ and c¼
k T
Furthermore, one can find all other parameters (Kam-
phuis, 2000, pp. 33 – 34) for any water depth.
4. Conclusions
An explicit solution to the waver dispersion equa-
tion is derived from Guo’s (2000, in press) logarith-
mic matching. The solution is simple and can
reproduce the numerical result for any water depth.
The maximum relative error of the proposed solution
is about 0.75% which is sufficient for practical calcu-
lations. Besides, if more accuracy is required, the
proposed solution can be considered the first approx-
imation of an iteration method.
Acknowledgements
This study is a part of the research project R-264-
000-101-112 supported by National University of
Singapore research funding.
References
Guo, J., 2000. Generic logarithmic model and its applications in
sediment transport. Proc. 12th Congress of the Asian and Pacific
Division of the International Association for Hydraulic Engi-
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ð29Þ Guo, J., 2002. Logarithmic matching and its applications in com-
putational hydraulics and sediment transport. J. Hydraul. Res.,
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Hunt, J.N., 1979. Direct solution of wave dispersion equation. J.
Waterw., Port, Coastal Ocean Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng. 105 (4),
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Griffiths, D.V., Smith, I.M., 1991. Numerical Methods for Engi-
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