Improvement of different source function expressions in SWAN model for the Bohai Sea

The simulating wave nearshore (SWAN) wave model has been widely used in coastal areas, lakes and estuaries. However, we found a poor agreement between modeling results and measurements in analyzing the chosen four typical cases when we used the default parameters of the source function formulas of the SWAN to make wave simulation for the Bohai Sea. Also, it was found that at the same wind process the simulated results of two wind generation expressions (Komen, Janssen) demonstrated a large difference. Further study showed that the proportionality coefficient α in linear growth term of wave growth source function plays an unperceived role in the process of wave development. Based on experiments and analysis, we thought that the coefficient α should change rather than be a constant. Therefore, the coefficient α changing with the variation of friction velocity U_* was introduced into the linear growth term of wave growth source function. Four weather processes were adopted to validate the improvement in the linear growth term. The results from the improved coefficient α agree much better with the measurements than those from the default constant coefficient α. Furthermore, the large differences of results between Komen wind generation expression and Janssen wind generation expression were eliminated. We also experimented with the four weather processes to test the new white-capping mechanisms based on the cumulative steepness method. It was found that the parameters of the new white-capping mechanisms are not suitable for the Bohai Sea, but Alkyon’s white-capping mechanisms can be applicable to the Bohai Sea after amendments, demonstrating that this improvement of parameter α can improve the simulated results of the Bohai Sea.