EXTREME AND CLIMA TIC WAVE SPECTRA FOR USE IN STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF SHIPS

• Published in: Naval Engineers Journal
• Main Author: BUCKLEY, WILLIAM H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1988
• Subjects: Kodiak; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-3584.1988.tb01523.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1559-3584.1988.tb01523.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1559-3584.1988.tb01523.x

ABSTRACT Long‐term measurements of wave spectra from 16 NOAA data buoys have been used to define extreme and climatic wave spectra. The NOAA buoys are deployed off the U.S. East Coast from the Gulf of Maine to the Georgia Embayment, in the Gulf of Mexico and from California to south of Kodiak, Alaska with as many as 55,000 spectra being available from a single buoy station. The basis on which an envelope of extreme values of significant wave height (H m o ) and modal frequency (f p ) was established is described and comparisons made with selected other data bases. The basis for establishing long‐term average, i.e. climatic wave spectra, is described together with examples of such data for the “steep” wave climate off the East Coast and the “long” wave climate off the West Coast. Examples of parametric approximations to climatic spectra are provided as well as selected characterizations of the respective wave climates. It is found that the Ochi (3P) spectrum formulation is especially useful in approximating a wide variety of climatic wave spectra whereas the utility of the Bret Schneider formulation is much more limited. An empirical basis is provided for defining Ochi (3P) spectra when only H m o and f p are known.