| Abstract: | Based on historical wind fields in the Bohai Sea, a sequence of annual extremal wave heightsis produced with numerical wave models for deep-water and shallow water. The design wave heights with different return periods for the nearest deep-water point and for the shallow water point are estimated on the basis of p-Ⅲ type, Weibull distribution, and Gumbel distribution; and the corresponding values for the shallow water point are also estimated based on the HISWA model with the input of design wave heightsfor the nearest deep-water point. Comparisons between design wave heights for the shallow water point estimated on the basis of both distribution functions are HISWA model show that the results from differentdistribution functions scatter considerably, and influenced strongly by return periods; however, the results from the HISWA model are convergent, that is, the influence of the design wave heights estimated with different distribution functions for deep water is weakened, and the estimated values decrease for long returnperiods and increase for short return periods. Therefore, the numerical wave model gives a more stable result in shallow water design wave estimation because of the consideration of the effect of physical processes which occur in shallow water. |
