Determining the onset and strength of unforced wave breaking in a numerical wave tank

A numerical wave tank is used to investigate the onset and strength of unforced wave breaking, and the waves have three types of initial spectra: constant amplitude spectrum, constant steepness spectrum and Pierson-Moscowitz spectrum. Numerical tests are performed to validate the model results. Then, the onset of wave breaking is discussed with geometric, kinematic, and dynamic breaking criteria. The strength of wave breaking, which is always characterized by the fractional energy loss and breaking strength coefficient, is studied for different spectra. The results show how the energy growth rate is better than the initial wave steepness on estimating the fractional energy losses as well as breaking strength coefficient.