Long waves in directional seas

In recent years the group-induced long waves have received an enhanced degree of attention. Especially in nearshore regions, the long waves can be of considerable height, and consequently the influence on harbour resonance, on the operation of ship terminals, on moorings of large vessels, etc. is obviously very important. It is the grouping of natural wave fields that generates the long waves, and they are proportional to the square of the short-wave height. Therefore, the expressions for the long-wave elevations can be found to include the short-wave components of the wave field and a second-order transfer function. This function is presented in a diagram with dimensionless parameters. For practical purposes a formula for rough estimate of the long-wave height is proposed.The second-order equations show that the long waves are determined by the difference of the wave-number vectors of the short waves. This is shown to imply that the spread of the long waves is larger than that of the short waves, and that the wave lengths of the long waves are dependent on the short-wave spread. Hereby it is possible to change the long-wave lengths, which seems to be a quality of great practical importance.The long waves are also expressed in spectral terms. That is, a formula for the directional long-wave spectrum is shown to comprise the transfer function squared and the short-wave amplitudes and phases.