Parameterization and simulation of near bed orbital velocities under irregular waves in shallow water

A set of empirical formulations is derived that describe important wave properties in shallow water as functions of commonly used parameters such as wave height, wave period, local water depth and local bed slope. These wave properties include time varying near-bed orbital velocities and statistical properties such as the distribution of wave height and wave period. Empirical expressions of characteristic wave parameters are derived on the basis of extensive analysis of field data using recently developed evolutionary algorithms. The field data covered a wide range of wave conditions, though there were few conditions with wave periods greater than 15 s. Comparison with field measurements showed good agreement both on a time scale of a single wave period as well as time averaged velocity moments.