Numerical Prediction of a Seaway

The ability of three wave theories to predict statistics and the crest kinematics of a seaway is quantified. The three wave theories are high-order spectral (HOS) theory, free-surface mapping (FSM), and volume-of-fluid (VOF). Issues associated with applying these methods are discussed, including free-surface adjustment, smoothing and filtering, and forcing. Two long-crested regular waves with varying bandwidth and moderate steepness are used to benchmark the performance of the wave theories. As a more stringent test, a broad-banded long-crested seaway is simulated.