LASER-DOPPLER ANEMOMETER MEASUREMENTS OF IRREGULAR WATER-WAVE KINEMATICS

The location of offshore structures for the purpose of recovering deep water resources has provided the impetus to more accurately predict forces acting on the structure so that costs can be minimized while the structure can safely withstand environmental forces. Accurate prediction of wave kinematics is a vital step in the more accurate prediction of environmental forces. In this study, a laser Doppler anemometer is used to measure the horizontal velocity under the largest wave occurring in an irregular sea generated in a laboratory wave tank. Specifically, JONSWAP and Pierson-Moskowitz wave spectra were generated in the wave tank and the horizontal velocity was measured at locations both above and below the still water level beneath the wave crest. The laboratory measured velocity values tend to lie between those predicted by linear extrapolation and Wheeler stretching. The results are not consistently predicted by either of the stretching methods, and therefore, it is not known which method will give a more accurate prediction before the data are measured.