Tr NOTE

Further verification of Gaussian wave packets

SUBRATA K. C H A K R A B A R T I and A L A N R. LIBBY

C B I Research Corporation, Plait~eld, I L 60544, U S A

INTRODUCTION
In a recent paper Clauss and Bergmann (1) presented a
new transient wave train based on a Gauss-modulated io
amplitude spectrum. A Gaussian Wave Packet is com- 6
posed o f an infinite number o f sinusoidal components.
By expanding the frequency co in a three term Taylor
series about the dominant frequency too corresponding
to wave number ko, the expression for the wave profile
iIIl
was obtained in a closed form
:30
~l(x, t) = ~1o[ 1 + s4BZt 2 ] - 1/4 i... t5

exp - 2(I + s4BZt 2) ( X - A t ) 2

coslkox- toot +
k
tan-l( l S 2B~ ~
"~ .

,111
s4Bt
+ 2(1 + saBZt 2)
J
( x - A t ) z)
(I)
?

where r/o = maximum wave amplitude, x = spatial loca- r 20 40 60 80 I00 120 140
tion of the transient wave, t = time, s = form factor of TIME m SECONDS
the packet, and A and B are the coefficients of the
Taylor expansion being functions o f ko, Co(=too/ko) Figure 1. Gaussian W a v e P a c k e t f o r D = 7', ko = 0.3,
and d, the water depth. S = O. 1 a n d rio = 1; W a v e m a k e r blpttt Signal

T E S T RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This wave packet was used to generate waves in the CBI
wave tank. A wave input signal was developed consid- O.

ering the middle of the 250 ft. long tank as the spatial
reference point (x = 0). The central wave number (ko) of
the Gaussian wave packet was 0.3 and the form factor ,~.:-a~ d- t ~
(s) was 0.1. The water depth was 7 ft. This wavemaker
input signal is shown in Figure 1. The wave generator
in the tank is a pneumatic type and consequently the
transfer function between the analog input signal and
the wave generated in the tank is nonlinear. Figure 2
shows the theoretical wave time history at the center of
the tank. The recorded wave near the center o f the tank I--
is given in Figure 3. Note that the measured wave is not
o.
as symmetric as the theoretical signal. The energy densi-
I 90 I00 I10 120 130 140 150
ty spectra o f the theoretical wave time history and the
TIME - SECONDS

F i g u r e 2 . Gattssian W a v e P a c k e t f o r D = 7', ko = 0.3,

Accepted August 1987. Discussion closes June 1988. S = O. 1 a n d 71o = 1; Theoretical W a v e

106 A p p l i e d Ocean Research, 1988, Vol. 10, No. 2 9 1988 Computational Mechanics Publications
 Further verification o f Gaussian wave packets: S. K. Chakrabarti and A. R. Libby

~5" PEAK FREQUENCY - ( Hz )- 0.46

SIGNIF. HEIGHT ( INCHES)- 2.49

W
CO
W
"1- d
C.) z
gta
m
>-
I I-
W
Z
w
b_d"
0
rr" >- d -
n (..9
n~
LLIo- W
Z
W
J
O.
0 " .iS .30 .45 .60 .75

FREQUENCY, Hz

"1- Figure 5. Spectrunl o f Generated Wave at Test Section

in Tank
!

During this test, a floating barge model was present in

r,i.
! the wave tank. The barge was moored to a fixed point
with a rigid mooring arm. The arm was hinged at both
r ends as shown in Figure 6. The fixed end hinge was
i instrumented with an angle sensor.
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
The floating barge was initially subjected to regular
TIME- SECONDS waves with periods of 1.5 to 3.5 seconds, and a transfer
Figure 3. Generated Wave at Test Section function (RAO) of the hinge angle was derived. The
transfer function, in this case, is expected to be linear.
The mean RAO from the regular waves is shown in
wavemaker input signal match quite well as shown in Figure 6 as a solid line. The barge was then subjected to
Figure 4, each having a significant height of about 0.4 the Gaussian wave shown in Figure 3. The RAO
units. The energy density spectra of the generated wave generated from this wave packet and the measured
is given in Figure 5. The significant height of the wave response spectra is shown as open circles in Figure 6.
w a s 2.5 inches. Note that the correlation between the two RAO's is
quite good over the range of wave periods except that
the response from the wave packet is low at periods
below 1.75 seconds (0.57 Hz). In this area, however, the
wave energy was small (Figure 4) and the accuracy of
measurement may be suspect. The correlation in this
PEAK SIGNIF.
FREQ.(Hz) HEIGHT area may, nonetheless, be termed fair.
THEORY 0.54 0.40
- - SIGNAL 0.51 0.40

_r

A
I I
d
ILl
I- SYMBOL RESULTS
iJ_
U) I MEAN REG ~AVE RAO
0 ~AVE PACKET RAO
v
U)
I--
T~ 1.9
z<~
:3

>-~. ,~ I ~ '-'~" ...... / _

I'- o )0~ TANK BOTTOM~

/o
7 t3
ILl I.d
N
t:3

\
O:: "
W
Z
W

o w I 1
o .,5 .~o .4~ .~o .Ts IO t.5 210 2.5 30 3.5
FREQUENCY, Hz WAVE P E R I O D { S E C )

Figure 4. Spectra o f Gaussian Waves; Correlation o f Figure 6. Correlation o f Response Transfer Functions
Theoretical Wave vs. h?put Signal from Regular Waves and Gaussian IVave Packet

Applied Ocean Research, 1988, Vol. 10, No. 2 107

Further verification o f Gaussian wave packets: S. K. Chakrabarti and A. R. Libby

C O N C L U D I N G REMARKS random wave test. Moreover, certain special cases may

not be studied by the transient wave excitation. For
This illustration provides further evidence that the
example, it may not be possible to study slow d r i f t
Gaussian wave packets may be used to derive informa-
oscillations of moored structures requiring a much
tion on the responses to a random wave input. Unlike
longer record length.
the random waves whose duration is generally several
minutes (e.g. 5 - 1 0 minutes), the test runs are necessarily
short (90 seconds in this case). The length should still be
sufficient so that an accurate spectral estimate (e.g. in an REFERENCES
FFT computation) is possible. 1. Clauss, G. F. and Bergmann, J., Gaussian Wave Packets - A New
The time history of such runs, however, does not pro- Approach Io Seakeeping Tests of Ocean Structures, Applied
vide the short term statistical information as found in a Ocean Research, 1986, 8, 190-206

108 Applied Ocean Research, 1988, Vol. 10, No. 2