Third-order effects in wave-body interaction

A review is presented of about 10 years research work on phenomena resulting from third-order interactions between an incoming wave system and the reflected wave system by a structure. The most striking manifestations are large run-ups that can be observed locally on the weather side. Two types of numerical potential flow models are described, one seeking for a steady-state solution in the frequency domain, and the other a fully nonlinear numerical wavetank based on extended Boussinesq equations. Numerous experimental investigations are described, with vertical walls and arrays of vertical cylinders. Computational results compare favorably with the measurements. Important issues such as the size of the interaction area and possible chaotic behavior are finally discussed.