DIFFRACTION OF WIND GENERATED WATER WAVES

Resumen

In designing a harbor an engineer must consider the diffraction of waves. In most studies, only uniform periodic waves coming from a single direction are treated. However, wind generated waves in the ocean are two dimensional, and the diffraction of waves due to a breakwater should be treated with this in mind. As methods of measuring the two-dimensional spectra of waves were developed recently, it was decided to determine whether or not diffraction theory could be applied with sufficient accuracy for two-dimensional wave spectra. The results of a laboratory study presented herein show that a knowledge of the two-dimensional spectra can be used together with diffraction theory to predict the energy spectra of waves in the lee of a breakwater within an accuracy that is probably acceptable for many engineering problems.