Validation of the Boccotti's generalized model for large nonlinear wave heights from laboratory mixed sea states

The presented work aims at validating the generalization of the asymptotic distribution model of Boccotti for large wave heights recently proposed by Tayfun [1] to laboratory generated mixed sea states with two-peak spectra. The input wave spectra are modelled as the sum of two JONSWAP spectra describing unidirectional wave systems with different or identical directions of propagation (crossing or following mixed seas). In order to account for the effect of the energetically dominant wave system on the largest observed waves, the Boccotti's parameters were calculated at the absolute minimum of the autocorrelation function which can differ from the first minimum for some cases of mixed seas, such as those dominated by the swell or seas with comparable contribution of the two spectral components. So far the proposed model has been validated elsewhere against samples of large wave heights exceeding the significant wave height in wind seas and in mechanically generated long-crested seas, both characterized by unimodal spectra and strong third-order nonlinearities. The present study demonstrates that it can predict equally well the tail of the distributions for mixed seas, irrespective of the type of the mixed sea, particularly when the third-order statistics is relatively large. Typically, the mixed seas from the considered offshore basin experiment display such conditions as the propagation distance from the wavemaker increases, though this effect is less pronounced for mixed following than for mixed crossing wave conditions. Moreover, the generalized model remains valid irrespective of the sign of the fourth-order sum Λ which is a key parameter of the distribution. Its good predictive ability is quantified here by the root-mean-square errors between observations and theory.