Wave prediction in a port using a fully nonlinear Boussinesq wave model

Abstract

A wave forecasting system using FUNWAVE-TVD which is based on the fully nonlinear Boussinesq equations by Chen (2006) was developed to provide an accurate wave prediction in the Port of Busan, South Korea. This system is linked to the Korea Operational Oceanographic System (KOOS) developed by Park et al. (2015). The computational domain covers a region of 9.6 kmx7.0 km with a grid size of 2 m in both directions, which is sufficient to resolve short waves and dominant sea states. The total number of grid points exceeds 16 millions, making the model computational expensive. To provide real-time forecasting, an interpolation method, which is based on pre-calculated results of FUNWAVE-TVD and SWAN forecasting results at the FUNWAVE-TVD offshore boundary, was used. A total of 45 cases were pre-calculated, which took 71 days on 924 computational cores of a Linux cluster system. Wind wave generation and propagation from the deep water were computed using the SWAN in KOOS. SWAN results provided a boundary condition for the FUNWAVE-TVD forecasting system. To verify the model, wave observations were conducted at three locations inside the port in a time period of more than 7 months. A model/model comparison between FUNWAVE-TVD and SWAN was also carried out. It is found that, FUNWAVE-TVD improves the forecasting results significantly compared to SWAN which underestimates wave heights in sheltered areas due to incorrect physical mechanism of wave diffraction, as well as large wave heights caused by wave reflections inside the port.