| The directionality of ocean waves is considered as the most problem area of today's wave measurement technology. In 1982 the University of Hawaii Ocean Engineering Department began a research project "Engineering Development of a Directional Wave Spectrum Measurement System for OTEC Applications" to address this problem. A new technology was developed in this research. This technology uses acoustic signals to determine the trajectory of a floating buoy which simulates the movement of a surface water particle.; Transfer functions of the three-dimensional displacement time series are used to describe the wave kinematics. The described wave kinematics are directly applied to calculate hydrodynamic loading. Cospectra and quadrature spectra determine the directional distribution function. The resultant directional distribution function is used to predict the directional progression of ocean waves. |
