Abstract
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.
Authors retain copyright and grant the Proceedings right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this Proceedings.