Numerical study of propagation of ship waves on a sloping coast

The aim of this paper is to investigate the propagation of ship waves on a sloping coast on the basis of results simulated by a 2D model. The governing equations used for the present model are the improved Boussinesq-type equations. The wave breaking process is parameterized by adding a dissipation term to the depth-integrated momentum equation. To give the boundary conditions at the ship location, the slender-ship approximation is used. It was verified that, although ship waves are essentially transient, the Snell's law can be applied to predict crest orientation of the wake system on a sloping coast. Based on simulated results, an applicable empirical formula to predict the maximum wave height on the slope is introduced. The maximum wave height estimated by the proposed method agrees well with numerical simulation results.