Computer model on linear wave propagation

Abstract

Many studies have been carried out by researchers over the years in attempt to understand waves. In conjunction to this, different wave theories were published. In this study, linear wave theory which is the simplest and mostly used theory to describe the wave motion is used. Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 is chosen as the programming language to develop a tool for the calculations of wave transformation based on linear wave theory. At the end of this study, a tool, WaveProp 1.0 is developed for the intended calculations of wave transformation based on linear wave theory. The model will be beneficial for industries and educational purposes. The wave length result from WaveProp 1.0 is compared to Eckart’s approximation and Fenton and McKee’s approximation, with varying wave period and water depth. Same percentages of error are obtained from both comparisons of wave length with varying wave period and water depth. Fenton and McKee’s approximation is able to provide accuracy up to 1.66%, while Eckart’s approximation is only able to calculate the wave length within accuracy of 5.23%.