The influence of directional spreading on rogue waves triggered by abrupt depth transitions

Abstract

An increased number of rogue waves, relative to standard distributions, can be induced by unidirectional waves passing over abrupt decreases in water depth. We investigate this phenomenon in a more general setting of multidirectional waves. We examine the influence of the directionality on the occurrence probability of rogue waves using laboratory experiments and fully nonlinear potential flow simulations. Based on the analysis of the statistics of random waves, we find that directional spreading reduces the formation probability of rogue waves relative to unidirectional seas. Nevertheless, for typical values of directional spreading in the ocean (15∘–30∘), our numerical results suggest that there is still a significant enhancement to the number of rogue waves just beyond the top of a depth discontinuity.