The JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project) spectra is an empirical relationship that defines the distribution of energy with frequency within the ocean.
The JONSWAP spectrum is effectively a fetch-limited version of the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum, except that the wave spectrum is never fully developed and may continue to develop due to non-linear wave-wave interactions for a very long time. Therefore in the JONSWAP spectrum, waves continues to grow with distance (or time) as specified by the α (alpha) term, and the peak in the spectrum is more pronounced, as specified by the γ (gamma) term. Hasselmann (1966) found the latter to be particularly important as it lead to enhanced non-linear interactions.
The JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project) spectra is an empirical relationship that defines the distribution of energy with frequency within the ocean.
The underlying equation is:
(1)
where
α is a constant that relates to the wind speed and fetch length, see below. Typical values in the northern north sea are in the range of 0.0081 to 0.01
ω is the wave frequency
is the peak wave-frequency
Most problems is the literature are expressed in the above form. However if a particular wind speed and fetch length are known, then α and can be estimated using the subsequent two functions.
For a range of typical north sea conditions (where α =0.0081 and =0.5), but with varying peak enhancements the JONSWAP spectra has the form
Standards
This function conforms to British Standards (BS 6349-1:2000), 24 July 2003.
Parameters:
w
wave-frequency (2 π/s)
wp
the peak wave frequency (2 π/s)
alpha
The intensity of the Spectra. Default value = 0.0081
gamma
Peak enhancement factor. Default value = 3.3
beta
A shape factor (Rarely changed). Default value = 1.25
This function uses the description of the JONSWAP spectra described in frequency to obtain an estimate of the distribution in wave-number using the 1st order dispersion relationship give in dispersion.
The function uses a 1st order central difference scheme to compute the corresponding value in wave-number, i.e.
(4)
where
S() is the original JONSWAP spectrum defined in the frequency domain.
T(k) is the JONSWAP spectrum defined in the wave-number domain.
For a range of north sea conditions (where α =0.0081 and =0.5), but with varying peak enhancements the JONSWAP spectra has the following form in wave-number:
Parameters:
k
Wave-number (2 π/m)
dk
The discretization in wave-number (representing accuracy of conversion)
wp
The peak wave frequency
depth
The water depth. Default value=0 (infinite depth)
alpha
The intensity of the spectra. Default value = 0.01
gamma
The peak enhancement factor. Default value = 3.3
beta
A shape factor (Rarely changed). Default value = 1.25