RANS investigation of the kinematics of an alternative extreme wave

The traditional “new-wave” which is the highest wave that is most likely to be seen in a given sea-state has been of great interest in recent times but could there be other kinds of waves with similar likelihood of occurrence which can exert comparable or even more severe loads in the same sea-state? This work investigates and compares the kinematics of an alternative extreme wave and the traditional extreme (“new-wave”). It was observed that although the alternative wave is not as high as the traditional extreme wave it can produce more severe kinematics and by extension, higher loads on a bottom-fixed marine structure. In the specific case investigated, the alternative wave broke while the traditional extreme wave did not break through-out the simulation. This suggests that height alone is not sufficient to characterize an extreme wave and an alternative extreme can occur which though not being the highest is more severe.