STATISTICS OF WEAKLY NONLINEAR WAVES WITH NARROW BANDED SPECTRA

Abstract

A theory of wave amplitude and height distribution with Edgeworth's form of a cumulative expansion is proposed for a weakly nonlinear wave train having narrow banded spectra. The results show that a weakly non-Gaussian model of wave height distribution reasonably agrees with experimental data. It is discussed that the fourth order moment(kurtosis) of water surface elevation corresponds to the first order nonlinear correction of wave heights and is related with wave grouping.