ADVANCED MICROCOMPUTER NUMERICAL WAVE MODEL

NUMERICAL WAVE MODELS HAVE IMPORTANT FORECAST AND HINDCAST APPLICATIONS. STATE-OF-THE-ART MODELS ARE COMPLEX COMPUTER PROGRAMS WHICH OPERATE ON LARGE COMPUTER SYSTEMS. COSTS OF MODEL OPERATION AND USE OF ADVANCED MODELS BY FEW ORGANIZATIONS MAKE WAVE INFORMATION FROM MODELS NOT AVAILABLE FRO MANY ENGINEERING AND SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS. ADVANCED MODELS ARE KEYED TO PREDICTIONS OVER LARGE AREAS AND GRID SIZE AND TIME STEP CONSIDERATIONS MAKE THEM NON- IDEAL FOR SITE-SPECIFIC PURPOSES INVOLVING LOCAL WIND FIELD VARIATIONS AND COASTAL CONFIGURATIONS. AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH INVOLVING SITE-SPECIFIC WAVE MODELING CONCEPTS IS PROPOSED TO ENABLE COST-EFFECTIVE USE OF ADVANCED NUMERICAL WAVE MODELS ON POWERFUL MICROCOMPUTERS WHICH HAVE BEEN BEEN DEVELOPED RECENTLY. KEY FEATURES OF THE APPROACH INVOLVE USE OF NUMERICAL DISCRETE SPECTRAL TECHNIQUES IN MOVING GRID SYSTEMS WHERE WAVES ARE GENERATED AND USE OF ANALYTICAL GREAT CIRCLE PROPAGATION OF WAVES SITES. PRELIMINARY USE OF THESE FEATURES BY THE PROPOSER HAS INDICATED THEIR ADVANTAGES OVER PRESENT LARGE SCALE WAVE MODELS FOR SITE-SPECIFIC WAVE MODELING. BECAUSE OF INCREASEDCOMPUTER EFFICIENCY, SMALL GRID SPACINGS AND TIME STEPS COULD POTENTIALLY COULD BE USED. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO PROVE FEASIBILITY OF THE APPROACH BY MEANS OF A PROTOTYPE MODEL OPERATED IN SIMULATION MODE ON A POWERFUL MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEM.