In the search of a coastal ocean wave model

The prediction of ocean wave conditions is required for many reasons. It is not only needed for shipping purpose, but is also used for design and construction of ocean structures. A number of wave models have been put forward since the 1950s, but their prediction though improved with time, still necessitates much work to be done. The reason for such performance of these models is their lack of actual physics of wave generation. An important part of wave models is the nonlinear wave interaction source term, which significantly affects the balance of source terms, and therefore wave spectrum development. Due to its complex form, its exact representation is avoided in wave models, and this has also hindered full understanding of other associated terms. The EXACT-NL model originally developed for deep water and run on CRAY computers for some special cases only, has been rigorously modified. The code has been converted to run on SUN machines and the shallow water effects have been incorporated. The energy growth and peak frequency curves have been compared with the deep and shallow water experimental results. The agreement has improved significantly compared to previous models. The source terms can also be studied in detail, thus enabling improved understanding of the physics of wave generation. The model is run on SUN machines, and therefore will be widely available to the research community.