Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

IRREGULAR SEAWAY

In an actual seaway, the sea surface is very irregular. Thus, the study of ship motions in a
regular sea can only be applied for academic purposes only. Some means have therefore to be
found to know the response of the ship in an actual seaway.

Although an actual seaway is irregular, oceanographers have been able to predict by statistical
means how often various wave heights may occur over a certain period of time for a particular
sea surface of a given amount of energy.

For a seaway, the Beaufort number can be used to estimate the wind speed. By observing the
surface, an individual can derive a Beaufort No. and hence a wind speed. See fig. 5.1 of
Dynamics of Marine Vehicles. Also see table 5.1.

For an irregular seaway, the amplitude and period is constantly changing from time to time
and place to place. This can be illustrated as follows:

Where,

(t), (x) = wave elevation as a function of time and space respectively.

Hw = Apparent wave ht. (crest to trough)

Tz = Apparent zero–crossing period
Tc = Apparent period (bet. two successive crests)
(Lw)z = Apparent wave length (zero up-crossing)
(Lw)c = Apparent wave length (bet. crests)

Although the profile of the sea surface seems quite random, wave records do, however,
possess certain characteristics:

Wk 6-1
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Average wave ht., characteristic wave period or height or significant wave period T w1/3 and
sig. wave ht., Hw1/3.

The average of 10% highest waves Hw1/10.

The average of 1% highest waves Hw1/100.

Please refer to Example 5.1 pg. 105, 106 (Bhattacharya).

IRREGULARITY OF THE SEAWAY AND THE HISTOGRAM

The degree of irregularity of a seaway can be shown by the shape of its Histogram.

i.e. Frequency of occurrence for the individual wave characteristics.

Histogram is basically derived from the record of wave elevations as shown:

Also, another way of plotting the Histogram is to plot the cumulative distribution as by
diagram below:

Wk 6-2
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

It has been found by experience that the theoretical Rayleigh curve fits the histograms for the
wave height (double amplitude) very well. Further discussions on this subject will be
mentioned later.

WAVE SPECTRUM

As proposed by Longuet–Higgins, the seaway can be described by a superposition of many

sinusoidal waves, each having a particular frequency, amplitude, direction and phase. The
wave surface is then expressed as the sum of a large number (N) of sinusoidal waves,

(t) =

amplitude

The energy of each component wave per unit area of water surface is ½ pgA 2n and thus the
total energy per unit surface area of the wave in the frequency range w to w + w is

½ g

Let us write,

S(w)  = ½

Where S(w) is the wave spectrum or wave energy spectrum.

Now,

E [ 2(t) ] =

Since mean value of sin2 is ½,

2 = E[2(t)] - {E [ (t) ] }2
= E [2(t)] mean elevation = 0 (mean of sin is 0)
variance

2 =
= mo

Some commonly quoted spectra.

Wk 6-3
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

i) Energy Spectrum

Ordinate = A2

S ½ A2 = mo =

ii) Amplitude Spectrum

Ordinate = A2
SA2 = 2 mo

iii) Height Spectrum

Ordinate = H2
SH2 = 8 mo

iv) Double-Height Spectrum

Ordinate = (2H)2
S(2H)2 = 32 mo
Commonly used energy spectra, S(w) = S ½ A2
1. Darbyshire wave Spectrum (1963)

S(w) =

0, otherwise

A = 0.186 X 10 –3.V4 (units are m2)

V = wind speed (m/s)
o = 6.284 (1.94 V ½ + 2.5 x 10 –7.V4)-1 rad/s

2. British Towing Tank Wave Spectrum

S(w) = , -o+0.265>0

0, otherwise

A = 21.5 (0.0625 V – 0.442)2 m2

V = wind speed (m/s)
o = 6.142 (0.1545 V + 7.389) –1 (rad/s)
3. Pierson – Moskowitz Wave Spectrum. 1963 (North Atlantic)

S(w) =

V = wind speed (m/s) at height of 19.5m

Wk 6-4
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

In general form, S() =

When  = max = (0.8B) ¼
S (max) = A (0.8 B) –5/4 . exp(-5/4)

Note: A = 0.0081 g2
B = 0.74 (g/V)4

4. International Towing Tank Conf. (I.T.T.C) Wave Spectrum

Assumes only significant wave ht. is known

Then use S() =

A = 8.1 x 10 –3 g2, B=

S(max) = at max = 1.26

5. International Ship Structure Congress (I.S.S.C.) Wave Spectrum

Assumes and are known.

S() =

Where,

A = 173

S(max) = 0.065 .T1/3.exp (-5/4) at max =

Note: I.T.T.C. and I.S.S.C. have maxima at same max only when T 1/3 = 3.86

If no wave data is available but wind speed is known, use the following table:

Wind Speed Sig. Wave Ht. (m)

(knots)
P.M I.T.T.C Scott (1968)

Wk 6-5
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

20 2.2 3.1 3.5

30 5.0 5.1 5.2
40 8.8 8.1 7.5
50 13.8 11.0 9.6

6. Joint North Sea Wave Project (JONSWAP) Wave Spectrum

For Limited fetch and shallow water condition.

S() =

A = ,

a ( 0.07),   max
 = * =
b ( 0.09),  > max

x = fetch, V10 = wind speed at height of 10m

Typical
7. Bretschneider Wave Spectrum

S() =

SPECTRAL MOMENTS

It is customary to introduce the spectral moments,

mn =

When n = 0
=1
 mo =

Wk 6-6
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

SPECTRAL BANDWIDTH

Given a spectrum it is customary to define the spectral bandwidth , the spread of energy, by
the relation 2 = 1 -

Also 2 = 1 - (obtained from wave records)

Where , To =

Tc = 2

( 0) ( 1)

Probability Density Function (p.d.f)

The area under the wave spectrum, i.e. the integral m o of S() contains a wealth of
information but we need to introduce probability functions to describe the distribution of
particular wave properties. Two widely used probability density functions (p.d.f’s) are the
Gaussian and Rayleigh.

Wk 6-7
Dr Adi Maimun MMK 1213 Behaviour of Marine Vehicles Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

The Gaussian, or Normal p.d.f. has the familiar bell-shaped form and accurately describes the
distribution of the wave elevations (t). The positive and negative deviations are symmetrically
positioned about the zero mean. For wide bandwidths ( 1) the Gaussian p.d.f. is
applicable, but for narrow bandwidths ( 0) the appropriate p.d.f. is the Rayleigh one.
Although the mathematics shows that the Rayleigh p.d.f. is only strictly for  0, it has
been found to be quite accurate for describing the distribution of wave amplitudes (or peaks).

If denotes the mean of the highest 1/n waves in a seastate, then we can show that:

Mean wave height, = 2.50 mo ½

Significant wave height, = 4.00 mo ½

1/10 th highest wave, = 5.10 mo 1/2

Wk 6-8