A METHOD FOR CALCULATING AND PLOTTING SURFACE WAVE RAYS

A method using a digital computer and an incremental plotter for calculating and plotting wave rays is described. Given a grid of depth values, the initial position of a wave ray, and the direction of travel and the period of the wave, successive points along the ray path are calculated. For each po...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wilson, W. Stanley
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
COASTAL REGIONS
COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Computer Programming and Software
Fluid Mechanics
HYDRODYNAMICS
OCEAN WAVES
OCEANOGRAPHY
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography
VIRGINIA
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Description
Summary:A method using a digital computer and an incremental plotter for calculating and plotting wave rays is described. Given a grid of depth values, the initial position of a wave ray, and the direction of travel and the period of the wave, successive points along the ray path are calculated. For each point on the path, water depth and bottom slope are estimated from the depth grid by linear interpolation, wave speed and curvature are computed according to classic theory, and the location of the next successive point is approximated by an iteration procedure. The numerical results may be plotted automatically. An example of the results, obtained from an application of the method to Virginia Beach, Virginia, is presented. Unless the bathymetry of an area is unusually smooth, this method calculates and plots wave rays faster than they can be manually constructed. (Author)