Wave groups and spectral shape in ice

<p>The reduction of arctic summer ice coverage has prompted a renewed interest in the physics of wave-ice interactions. Progress has been made on the observational, theoretical and modeling aspects of waves in the presence of ice.</p><p>This presentation will address our recent observational studies of spectral wave properties in the marginal ice zone, and in ice covered seas. Waves propagating through ice are attenuated and scattered, resulting in a pronounced change of the shape of the wave spectrum. In particular, the strong attenuation of the high frequency components affects wave steepness and the spectral bandwidth, and thus wave groupiness and the crest height distribution.</p><p>We present data for various ice conditions, obtained from drifting SWIFT buoys, a moored ADCP and moored inverted echosounders. All observations show well developed group structures of the waves. However, for different datasets we obtain opposite dependencies between wave groupiness and wave spectral characteristics. This suggests that depending on ice condition, both, the linear mechanism of wave superposition, or wave nonlinarites can be responsible for the wave group enhancement in ice. These mechanisms will be discussed.</p>

Numerical and Experimental Modelling of Mooring Systems: Effects of Wave Groupiness on Extreme Loads

Mooring systems constitute an important element to secure the stability and survival of floating structures. In the last years, its use has increased potentially linked to the growth of marine renewable energies, about all, offshore wind and waves. Traditionally, fixed foundations such as gravity, monopiles or jackets have been installed. However, new alternatives have been developed based on floating structures looking to take advantage of the potential resource in deep waters. This paper involves an exhaustive mooring system study based on catenary configuration from different points of view. Physical modelling was performed by means of different experimental tests under different loading conditions including prescribed movements and natural forcing (waves and currents) considering two different types of seabed: a rigid seabed using the glass of the flume simulating a rocky bottom and a deformable seabed through sandy seabed. Different types of numerical approaches were implemented and they were validated with laboratory tests. Quasi-static and dynamic models were included. Also, a commercial software called SESAM was used to verify the results. Finally, the effect of wave groupiness on extreme loads was analysed using a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT).

DUNE EROSION ABOVE REVETMENTS

In a situation with a narrow dune, the dune base can be protected with a revetment to reduce dune erosion during extreme events. To quantify the effects of a revetment on storm impact, the functionality of the numerical storm impact model XBeach (Roelvink et al., 2009) is extended to account for the complex morphodynamics around revetments. Here the focus is on dune erosion above revetments, which is simulated with a simple avalanching algorithm that is triggered by the combined runup of short waves and long waves. The simulated runup statistics depend on the incident wave groupiness and associated long wave variance.

SHORT WAVE BREAKING EFFECTS ON LOW FREQUENCY WAVES

The effect of short wave breaking on low frequency waves is investigated using two breaker formulations implemented in a time-dependent numerical model (XBeach): (1) an advective-deterministic approach (ADA) and (2) the probabilistic breaker formulation of Roelvink (1993). Previous research has shown that the ADA breaker model gives different results for the cross-shore pattern of the fraction of breaking waves, which is now shown to affect not only the short wave height but also the short wave groupiness. While RMS short wave heights are comparable to measurements using both breaker models, the ADA breaker model allows higher levels of short wave groupiness into the surf zone. It is shown that this acts as an additional forcing mechanism for low frequency waves in the shoaling and nearshore zone, which, in addition to greater levels of breaking, leads to higher values of wave set-up. These findings are dependent on the complexity of the local bathymetry. For a plane slope, the differences in the low frequency wave heights and set-up predicted by both breaker models are negligible. Where arbitrary breakpoints are present in the field of wave propagation, such as nearshore bars or reefs, the ADA model predicts higher localized set-up, indicative of greater flow over such features. Differences are even more pronounced when the incident wave regime is highly energetic.