Mike21sw 1 60

MIKE 21 Spectral Waves FM
Spectral Wave Module
User Guide
MIKE 2017
2
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4 MIKE 21 SW - © DHI
CONTENTS
1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Assumed User Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 General Editor Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.1 Navigation tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.2 Editor window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.3 Validation window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Short Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Application Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 Computational Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Defining and Limiting the Wave Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.1 Identify the wave problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.2 Check MIKE 21 SW capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2.3 Selecting model formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2.4 Define computational domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2.5 Check computer resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Collecting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4 Setting up the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4.1 What does it mean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4.2 Mesh and bathymetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.3 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.4 Bottom friction coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.5 Wind field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.5 Calibrating and Verifying the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5.2 Calibration and verification situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5.3 Calibration factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.6 Running the Production Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.7 Presenting the Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 EXAMPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2 Fetch-limited Wave Growth in a Lake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5
4.2.1 Purpose of example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.2 Defining and limiting the wave problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.3 Presenting the results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2.4 List of data and specification files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.3 North Sea and West-coast Wave Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3.1 Purpose of the test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.4 Wave Transformation on a Barred Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.5 Wave Transformation Around an Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5 BASIC PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1 Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1.1 Mesh and bathymetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1.2 Domain Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1.3 Boundary Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.2 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
6 SPECTRAL WAVE MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1 Basic equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1.1 Spectral formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1.2 Time formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1.3 Remarks and hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.2 Time Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.3 Spectral discretization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.3.1 Frequency discretisation (fully spectral formulation only) . . . . . . . 59
6.3.2 Directional discretisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.3.3 Separation of Wind-sea and Swell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.4 Solution technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.4.1 Instationary formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6.4.2 Quasi-stationary formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.4.3 Output of convergence information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.4.4 CFL Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.5 Water level conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.6 Current conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.7 Wind forcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.7.1 General description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.8 Ice coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.9 Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.10 Energy transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.11 Wave breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.12 Bottom friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.13 White capping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.14 Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.14.1 Point structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.14.2 Line structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.15 Initial conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.16 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.16.1 Boundary specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6.17 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.17.1 Geographic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.17.2 Output specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.17.3 Integral wave parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.17.4 Input parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.17.5 Model parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.17.6 Spectral parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7 SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8 LIST OF REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7
Purpose
1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE
1.1 Purpose
The main purpose of this User Guide is to enable you to use, MIKE 21 Spec-
tral Wave Model FM (MIKE 21 SW), for applications involving the assessment
of wave climates in offshore and coastal areas. The User Guide is comple-
mented by the On-line Help.
The following section, Section 2, INTRODUCTION, gives you a short descrip-

tion of the module MIKE 21 SW and the type of applications it can be used
for.
Section 3, GETTING STARTED, contains a step-by-step procedure which

can be followed when working on an application or when writing a proposal. It
is the intention that by following this procedure, and by using the SPECTRAL
WAVE MODULE (Section 6), you should be able to get good and reliable
results from MIKE 21 SW although a formal procedure is no substitute for
common sense.
Section 4, EXAMPLES, includes a number of simple and more complicated

MIKE 21 SW applications. These are chosen to cover typical application
areas of MIKE 21 SW. The emphasis in these examples is on how the param-
eters are selected and how the results are presented.
Section 5, BASIC PARAMETERS, describes the necessary spatial and tem-

poral information of your model setup. Section 6, SPECTRAL WAVE MOD-
ULE, describes the parameters in the MIKE 21 SW dialogs. It provides more
details on specific aspects of the operation of MIKE 21 SW and is what you
will normally refer to for assistance if you are an experienced user. The con-
tents of section 5 and 6 is the same as found in the On-line Help.
In Section 7, SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION, you can find information on

the scientific background for MIKE 21 SW.
In Section 8, LIST OF REFERENCES, you can find a reference list.
An INDEX is found at the end of this MIKE 21 SW User Guide.
1.2 Assumed User Background

Although MIKE 21 SW has been designed carefully with emphasis on a logi-
cal and user-friendly interface, and although the User Guide contains model-
ling procedures and a large amount of reference material, common sense is
always needed in any practical application.
In this case, “common sense” means a background in wave mechanics which

is sufficient for you to be able to check whether the results from MIKE 21 SW
9
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
are reasonable or not. This User Guide is not intended as a substitute for -
and it cannot replace - a basic knowledge of the area in which you are work-
ing: mathematical modelling of wave problems.
It is assumed that you are familiar with the basic elements of MIKE 21: file
types and file editors, the Plot Composer, the MIKE Zero Toolbox, the Data
Viewer and the Mesh Generator. The documentation for these can be found
by the MIKE Zero Documentation Index.
1.3 General Editor Layout

The MIKE Zero setup editor consists of three separate panes.
1.3.1 Navigation tree
To the left is a navigation tree, that shows the structure of the model setup
file, and is used to navigate through the separate sections of the file. By
selecting an item in this tree, the corresponding editor is shown in the central
pane of the setup editor.
1.3.2 Editor window
The edior for the selected section is shown in the central pane. The content of
this editor is specific for the selected section, and might contain several prop-
erty pages.
For sections containing spatial data - e.g. sources, boundaries and output - a
geographic view showing the location of the relevant items will be available.
The current navigation mode is selected in the bottom of this view, it can be
zoom in, zoom out or recenter. A context menu is available from which the
user can select to show the bathymetry or the mesh, to show the optional GIS
background layer and to show the legend. From this context menu it is also
possible to navigate to the previous and next zoom extent and to zoom to full
extent.
If the context menu is opend on an item - e.g. a source - it is also possible to
jump to this items editor.
Further options may be available in the context menu depending on the sec-
tion being edited.
1.3.3 Validation window
The bottom pane of the editor shows possible validation errors, and is
dynamically updated to reflect the current status of the setup specifications.
By double-clicking on an error in this window, the editor in which this error

occurs will be selected.
Online Help
1.4 Online Help

The On-line Help can be activated in several ways, depending on the user's
requirement:
 F1-key seeking help on a specific activated dialog:

To access the help associated with a specific dialog page, press the
F1-key on the keyboard after opening the editor and activating the spe-
cific property page.
 Open the On-line Help system for browsing manually after a spe-
cific help page:
Open the On-line Help system by selecting “Help Topics” in the main
menu bar.
11
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
Short Description
2 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Short Description

MIKE 21 SW includes a new generation spectral wind-wave model based on
unstructured meshes. The model simulates the growth, decay and transfor-
mation of wind-generated waves and swell in offshore and coastal areas.
Figure 2.1 MIKE 21 SW is a state-of-the-art numerical tool for prediction and

analysis of wave climates in offshore and coastal areas
MIKE 21 SW includes two different formulations:
 Directional decoupled parametric formulation

 Fully spectral formulation
The directional decoupled parametric formulation is based on a parameteri-

zation of the wave action conservation equation. The parameterization is
made in the frequency domain by introducing the zeroth and first moment of
the wave action spectrum as dependent variables following Holthuijsen
(1989). A similar approximation is used in MIKE 21 NSW Nearshore Spectral
Wind-Wave Module.
The fully spectral formulation is based on the wave action conservation equa-
tion, as described in e.g. Komen et al. (1994) and Young (1999), where the
directional-frequency wave action spectrum is the dependent variable.
The basic conservation equations are formulated in either Cartesian co-ordi-

nates for small-scale applications and polar spherical co-ordinates for large-
scale applications.
13
INTRODUCTION
MIKE 21 SW includes the following physical phenomena:
 Wave growth by action of wind

 Non-linear wave-wave interaction
 Dissipation due to white-capping
 Dissipation due to bottom friction
 Dissipation due to depth-induced wave breaking
 Refraction and shoaling due to depth variations
 Wave-current interaction
 Effect of time-varying water depth and flooding and drying
The discretization of the governing equation in geographical and spectral

space is performed using cell-centered finite volume method. In the geo-
graphical domain, an unstructured mesh technique is used. The time integra-
tion is performed using a fractional step approach where a multi-sequence
explicit method is applied for the propagation of wave action.
2.2 Application Areas

MIKE 21 SW is used for the assessment of wave climates in offshore and
coastal areas - in hindcast and forecast mode.
A major application area is the design of offshore, coastal and port structures
where accurate assessment of wave loads is of utmost importance to the
safe and economic design of these structures. Measured data is often not
available during periods long enough to allow for the establishment of suffi-
ciently accurate estimates of extreme sea states. In this case, the measured
data can then be supplemented with hindcast data through the simulation of
wave conditions during historical storms using MIKE 21 SW.
MIKE 21 SW is particularly applicable for simultaneous wave prediction and

analysis on regional scale (like the North Sea, see Figure 2.2) and local scale
(west coast of Jutland, Denmark, see Figure 2.4). Coarse spatial and tempo-
ral resolution is used for the regional part of the mesh and a high-resolution
boundary- and depth-adaptive mesh is describing the shallow water environ-
ment at the coastline.
Application Areas
Figure 2.2 A MIKE 21 SW forecast application in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
The chart shows a wave field illustrated by the significant wave height in
top of the computational mesh. See
http://www.waterforecast.com
MIKE 21 SW is also used in connection with the calculation of the sediment

transport, which for a large part is determined by wave conditions and associ-
ated wave-induced currents. The wave-induced current is generated by the
gradients in radiation stresses that occur in the surf zone. MIKE 21 SW can
be used to calculate the wave conditions and associated radiation stresses.
Subsequently the wave-induced flow is calculated using MIKE 21 Flow Model
FM.
Figure 2.3 Illustration of typical application areas
15
INTRODUCTION
Figure 2.4 Example of a computational mesh used for transformation of offshore

wave statistics using the directionally decoupled parametric formulation
MIKE 21 SW is also applied on global scale as illustrated in Figure 2.5.
Figure 2.5 Example of a global application of MIKE 21 SW. Results from such a
model can be used as boundary conditions for regional scale forecast
or hindcast models. See http://www.waterforecast.com
2.3 Computational Features

The main features of MIKE 21 SW are as follows:
 Fully spectral and directionally decoupled parametric formulations

 Source functions based on state-of-the-art 3rd generation formulations
 Instationary and quasi-stationary solutions
 Optimal degree of flexibility in describing bathymetry and ambient flow
conditions using depth-adaptive and boundary-fitted unstructured mesh
 Effects of ice coverage
Computational Features
 Coupling with hydrodynamic flow model for modelling of wave-current

interaction and time-varying water depth
 Flooding and drying in connection with varying water levels
 Cell-centered finite volume technique
 Time integration using a fractional step approach and an efficient multi-
sequence method
 Extensive range of model output parameters (wave, swell, air-sea inter-
action parameters, radiation stress tensor, spectra, etc.)
17
INTRODUCTION
General
3 GETTING STARTED
3.1 General
The purpose of this chapter is to give you a general check list which you can
use when modelling situations involving the growth, decay and transforma-
tion of wind-generated waves and swell in offshore and coastal areas using
the new generation spectral wind-wave models included in MIKE 21 SW.
The work will normally consist of the six tasks listed below:
 defining and limiting the wave problem

 collecting data
 setting up the model
 calibrating and verifying the model
 running the production simulations
 presenting the results
Each of these six tasks are described for a “general wave study” in the follow-
ing sections. For your particular study only some of the tasks might be rele-
vant.
Please note that whenever a word is written in italics it is included as an entry

in the On-line Help and in the Reference Guide.
3.2 Defining and Limiting the Wave Problem
3.2.1 Identify the wave problem
When preparing to do a study you have to assess the following before you
start to set up the model:
 what are the “important wave phenomena”? The following phenomena

should be taken into consideration:
– Shoaling
– Refraction
– Diffraction
– Reflection
– Bottom dissipation
– Wave breaking
– Wind-wave generation
– Frequency spreading
– Directional spreading
– Wave-wave interaction
– Wave-current interaction
19
GETTING STARTED
The MIKE 21 SW module can handle these phenomena with the

exception of diffraction and reflection.
 what is the “area of influence” of the wave phenomena?
3.2.2 Check MIKE 21 SW capabilities
Next, check if the MIKE 21 SW module is able to solve your problem. This
you can do by turning to Section 2, which gives a short description of MIKE
21 SW and an overview of the type of applications for which MIKE 21 SW can
be used, and by consulting the Scientific Documentation.
3.2.3 Selecting model formulation
For the assessment of wave conditions in nearshore and coastal areas which
most often involves transformation of known offshore wave statistics (derived
from e.g. measurement, regional/global models, remote sensing data, etc.)
you will typically use the directionally decoupled parametric formulation. It is
important you notice that the wind-wave generation process is presently not
included in this formulation. If this process is important you have to use the
fully spectral formulation, which is more computational demanding, but of
course also more accurate.
The fully spectral model is often used for simultaneous wave prediction and
analysis on large and local scale. Coarse spatial and temporal resolution is
used for the regional (or large) scale part of the computational domain and a
high-resolution boundary- and depth-adaptive mesh is describing the shallow
water environment at the coastline. An example is presented in Section 4
EXAMPLES (p. 27).
3.2.4 Define computational domain
Draw up your model domain on a sea chart showing the area of interest and
the area of influence. This is normally an iterative process as on one hand
you should keep the model domain as small as possible, while on the other
hand you have to include the total area of influence. You also have to con-
sider the Boundary Conditions (6.16 Boundary conditions (p. 88)).
The choice of the discrete resolution in the geographic and spectral space
depends on the wave conditions for which simulations are to be performed
and on the bathymetry and forcing fields (wind, current, water level):
 discrete resolution in the geographical space must be selected to provide

adequate resolution of the bathymetry and the forcing fields.
 discrete resolution in the geographical space and the discrete rep-
resentation of the frequency and directions must be selected to provide
adequate resolution at the wave field under consideration.
Collecting Data
In order to provide an accurate description of the transport of wave action the

CFL number based on the group velocity should be less than 1 in all compu-
tational nodes. Please notice that the CFL number can be saved as a model
output parameter.
3.2.5 Check computer resources
Finally, before you start to set up the model, you should check that you are
not requesting unrealistic computer resources:
 the CPU time required should be estimated.

 the Disk Space required should be estimated.
It is recommended to run the MIKE 21 SW examples included in the installa-

tion for assessment of the computational speed on your PC and to assess the
disk space consumption.
3.3 Collecting Data

This task may take a long time if, for example, you have to initiate a monitor-
ing program. Alternatively it may be carried out very quickly if you are able to
use existing data which are immediately available. In all cases the following
data should be collected:
 bathymetric data such as sea charts from local surveys or, for example,
from the Hydrographic Office, UK, or MIKE C-MAP.
 wind data; there might be synoptic weather charts, collected cyclone
data, measurement of the wind conditions in selected locations, etc.
 current and water level data; if wave-current interaction and/or varying
water level is important for your MIKE 21 SW application you often have
to setup and run a MIKE 21 Flow Model FM simulation prior to the execu-
tion of the wave simulation.
 information on sea bed characteristics for assessment of the influence of
bottom dissipation.
 calibration and validation data; these might be measured wave parame-
ters at selected locations, e.g. significant wave height, peak wave period
and mean wave direction.
3.4 Setting up the Model
3.4.1 What does it mean
“Setting up the model” is actually another way of saying transforming real

world events and data into a format which can be understood by the numeri-
21
GETTING STARTED
cal model. Thus generally speaking, all the data collected have to be resolved
on the domain selected.
3.4.2 Mesh and bathymetry
Providing MIKE 21 SW with a suitable mesh and bathymetry is essential for

obtaining reliable results from your model. Setting up the mesh includes the
appropriate selection of the area to be modelled, adequate resolution of the
bathymetry, wave, wind and flow fields under consideration and definition of
codes for essential and land boundaries. Furthermore, the resolution in the
geographical space must also be selected with respect to stability considera-
tions.
Describing the water depth in your defined model domain is one of the most
important tasks in the modelling process. A few hours less spent in generat-
ing the mesh covering the bathymetry may later on mean extra days spent in
the calibration process.
The mesh file including your bathymetry is always generated by MIKE Zero
Mesh Generator, which is a tool for the generation and handling of unstruc-
tured meshes, including the definition and editing of boundaries. The MIKE
Zero Bathymetry Editor can not be used for creating of flexible meshes.
3.4.3 Boundary conditions
An offshore boundary where no wave information is available is most often

treated as an absorbing (land) boundary. No waves can enter the model
domain from this type of boundary and waves propagating out of the domain
are fully absorbed.
If offshore wave data is available (e.g. wave measurements or data derived

from a MIKE 21 SW simulation) an essential boundary can be chosen. The
boundary conditions can be described through either a parameterized formu-
lation (Hm0, Tp, etc.) or a wave spectrum. The wave boundary conditions can
be variable in time and space.
3.4.4 Bottom friction coefficients
The bottom friction can be specified as a dissipation coefficient, as a

Nikuradse roughness parameter or as the sand grain size (see section 6.12
Bottom friction (p. 76)).
3.4.5 Wind field
Successful wave hindcast and forecast depend on accurate wind fields

deduced from meteorological models and analysis. As the wind field is the
Calibrating and Verifying the Model
main driving force, the largest gain in MIKE 21 SW is to specify accurate and
representative wind fields.
The wind field can be specified as constant in space/time or variable in

space/time.
Please notice that the wind-wave generation in this release is only possible
using the fully spectral formulation.
3.5 Calibrating and Verifying the Model
3.5.1 Purpose
Having completed all tasks listed above you are ready to do the first wave
simulation and to start on the calibration and verification of the model.
The purpose of the calibration is to tune the model in order to reproduce

known/measured conditions for a particular situation.
The calibrated/tuned model is then verified by running one or more simula-

tions for which measurements are available without changing any tuning
parameters. This should ensure that simulations can be made for any situa-
tion similar to the calibration and verification situations with satisfactory
results. However, you should never use simulation results, whether verified or
not, without checking if they are reasonable or not.
3.5.2 Calibration and verification situations
The situations which you select for calibration and verification of the model
should cover the range of situations you wish to investigate in the production
runs. However, as you must have some measurements/observations against
which to calibrate and, as the measurements are often only available for short
periods, you may only have a few situations from which to choose.
3.5.3 Calibration factors
When you run your calibration run the first time and compare the simulation
results to your measurements you will in many cases see differences
between the two. The purpose of the calibration is then to tune the model so
that these differences become negligible. The most important factor in the
calibration is the accuracy of the data. Hence, in order to reduce the differ-
ences, you may have to change the basic model specifications listed in Sec-
tion 3.4.
The calibration parameters available in MIKE 21 SW are:
 Resolution in geographical and spectral space
23
GETTING STARTED
 Bottom friction
– An increase of the bottom friction coefficient in shallow water depths
usually leads to increased energy dissipation and thus decreased
wave heights and increased wave periods. The converse is also the
case. In deep water the effect of bottom friction will be negligible,
since the waves will not feel the bottom.
 Breaking parameters
– The breaking wave parameters can also be used as calibration fac-
tors in some cases. However, you should be careful in tuning these
parameters. The parameter controls the rate of energy dissipation
after breaking while  (depth-induced) controls the amount of depth
related breaking. An increase in increases the rate of energy dissi-
pation. Increasing reduces the amount of depth-related wave
breaking.
– In the directionally decoupled parametric formulation you can also
use the steepness-induced wave breaking parameter to calibrate
your model. By increasing this value the dissipation can be reduced
resulting in increased wave height and wave period.
 White capping (fully spectral formulation only)
– In most applications you will apply the default values of the two free
parameters controlling the rate of white-cap (or steepness induced)
dissipation; Cds and . The default values (Cds = 4.5 and = 0.5) are
identical to the recommendations made in Komen et al. (1994).
If you for instance find difficulties in calibrating an offshore model (in

deep water), where the simulated wave heights/wave periods are
generally to small compared to measurements you may reduce the
coefficient Cds to improve your model performance. This has been
the case for the North Sea application discussed in section 4.3 North
Sea and West-coast Wave Conditions (p. 33).
 Wind data
– The accuracy of the MIKE 21 SW is closely related to the accuracy
of the wind field specification. Typically an error of 10% in the wind
speed will lead to an error of 20% in the corresponding wave height.
 Current and water level data
– For particularly shallow water applications accurate information on
current and water level variations can be important for the simulated
results.
 Boundary data
3.6 Running the Production Simulations

As you have calibrated and verified the model you can get on to the “real”
work, that is doing your actual investigation. This will, in some cases, only
include a few runs, while in others several storm events will have to be hind-
casted.
Presenting the Results
3.7 Presenting the Results

Throughout a modelling study you are working with large amounts of data
and the best way of checking them is therefore to look at them graphically.
Only in a few cases, such as when you check your mesh/bathymetry along a
boundary or you want to compare simulation results to measurements in
selected locations, should you look at the individual numbers. Much empha-
sis has therefore been placed on the capabilities for graphical presentation in
MIKE 21 and it is an area which will be expanded and focused on even fur-
ther in future versions.
Essentially, one plot gives more information than scores of tables and if you
can present it in colours, your message will be even more easily understood.
A good way of presenting the model results is using contour plots of the cal-
culated wave parameters, e.g. the significant wave heights and the mean
wave periods, and in form of vector plots showing the mean wave directions.
Plotting in MIKE Zero is done by using the Grid Editor, the Plot Composer tool
and the Data Viewer.
Table 6.2 List of tools for viewing, editing and plotting results. (p. 97) provides
you with an overview of the various plotting/viewing tools available in MIKE
Zero.
25
GETTING STARTED
General
4 EXAMPLES
4.1 General
One of the best ways of learning how to use a modelling system like MIKE 21
is through practice. Therefore we have included a number of applications,
which you can go through yourself and which you can modify, if you like, in
order to see what happens if this or that parameter is changed.
The specification data files for the examples are included with the installation
of MIKE 21. For each example a folder is provided. The folder names are as
follows:
 Fetch-limited wave growth in a lake

.\Examples\MIKE_21\SW\Lake
 North Sea and West-coast wave conditions
.\Examples\MIKE_21\SW\NorthSea
 Wave transformation on a barred beach
.\Examples\MIKE_21\SW\Fjaltring
 Wave transformation around an island
.\Examples\MIKE_21\SW\Island
4.2 Fetch-limited Wave Growth in a Lake
4.2.1 Purpose of example
The purpose of this simple application is to study fetch-limited wind-wave

growth in a 40 km long and 40 km wide lake having a constant water depth of
15 m. The fully spectral formulation is used. The results can readily be com-
pared to well-known fetch-limited growth relationships in the literature.
4.2.2 Defining and limiting the wave problem
Mesh and bathymetry

The model domain is 40 km x 40 km with a constant water depth of 15 m. All
boundaries are closed (absorbing) land boundaries. The mesh is shown in
Figure 4.1. You can generated this mesh by loading the “Lake_Mesh_Gener-
ation_15m.mdf” file into the MIKE Zero Mesh Generator and triangulate the
area. The structured mesh includes 289 nodes and 512 elements. The mesh
size is 2500 m and the element area is 3.125 x 106 m2. As the boundaries are
considered as absorbing (land) boundaries the arc attributes (including
start/end nodes) are all set to 1. By interpolation (using the file
“water_15m.xyz”) the bathymetry is generated as shown in Figure 4.2.
27
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.1 Computational mesh
Figure 4.2 Bathymetry
Wind forcing
The wind is blowing from West (270 °N) in 6 hours. Then the wind direction
turns to a south direction (180 °N) from where it blows for 8 hours. The wind
speed is constant U10= 13 m/s. The wind time series is shown in Figure 4.3.
Fetch-limited Wave Growth in a Lake
Figure 4.3 Wind conditions
Spectral discretization
The minimum frequency is 0.055 Hz, the frequency ratio is 1.1 and there are
25 discrete frequencies in this case. Hence the frequency spectrum is
resolved within the frequency range [0.055; 0.6] Hz.
The 360° rose is resolved with 16 discrete directions.
Time integration
The time step is 120 s and the simulation period covers 15 hours.
4.2.3 Presenting the results
In Figure 4.4 wave growth curves are shown for the significant wave height
and peak wave period (west boundary is to the left). The growth curve at
06:00 hours predicts at fetch 40 km a significant wave height of 1.55 m and a
corresponding spectral peak period of 4.8 s. This prediction is in very good
agreement with Shore Protection Manual (1984) shallow water growth curves
(Hm0 = 1.49 m and Tp = 4.6 s) and the growth curves suggested by Kahma
and Calkoen (in Komen et al., 1994, p. 175-176) (Hm0 = 1.62 m and Tp = 4.9
s).
The maps shown in Figure 4.5 clearly illustrate the influence of the absorbing
boundaries on the wave field. The graphics are created by the MIKE Zero
Data Viewer.
Figure 4.6 shows how the directional spectrum change during the turn of the
wind direction. The graphics are created by the Polar Plot in MIKE Zero Data
Viewer.
29
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.4 Spatial variation of the significant wave height and peak wave period at
two different instances. The results are extracted from the result file
“Wave_line.dfs1”
Fetch-limited Wave Growth in a Lake
Figure 4.5 Maps of the significant wave height at two different instances
31
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.6 Evolution of the directional spectrum during a 90° turn of the wind direc-
tion. The plots are made in the Data Viewer. Polar plots can also be
made in the MIKE Zero Plot Composer (Polar Plot control)
4.2.4 List of data and specification files
The following data files (included in the \sw\Lake folder) are supplied with
MIKE 21 SW:
File name: Lake_Mesh_Generation_15m.mdf

Description: MeshEdit document for generation of the Lake_Mesh.mesh file
including the computational mesh and bathymetry
File name: water_15m.xyz

Description: xyz-file including the bathymetry information
File name: Lake_Mesh.mesh

Description: Mesh-file including the mesh and bathymetry
File name: Wind.dfs0

Description: Time series of wind speed and direction
File name: Lake.sw

Description: MIKE 21 Spectral Wave Setup Document
North Sea and West-coast Wave Conditions
4.3 North Sea and West-coast Wave Conditions
4.3.1 Purpose of the test
Accurate predictions of extreme values of waves are essential when deter-

mining design data for marine structures. The safety of structures, as well as
the possibility of developing an economic design, relies above all on the relia-
bility and accuracy of the underlying design data.
DHI has carried out a large number of design studies covering various loca-
tions in the U.K., Norwegian and Danish sectors of the North Sea. These
studies were conducted for Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S (Denmark), Mærsk
Olie and Gas A/S (Denmark), Hamilton Brothers Oil & Gas Ltd. (U.K.), British
Petroleum (U.K.), Phillips Petroleum Company (Norway) and many others.
Recently, DHI has implemented a forecast model for Eltra A/S (Denmark) for
short and long term wave prediction in connection with planning of installation
and maintenance of an new offshore wind farm located at Horns Rev at the
Danish West-coast. An extensive validation has been carried out for the
MIKE 21 SW model. The present example shows a simulation for the period
5-12 November 2000, where comparison with offshore data (Ekofisk) and
onshore data (Horns Rev) is available.
Figure 4.7 Offshore wind farm
Mesh and bathymetry

The model domain is about 1000 km x 2000 km with a maximum water depth
of approximately 4000 m. All boundaries are closed (i.e. absorbing land
33
EXAMPLES
boundaries). The overall computational mesh is shown in Figure 4.8. A local

refinement with higher spatial resolution has been made at the wind farm site.
A close-up of the mesh in this area is shown in Figure 4.9. The spatial resolu-
tion is about 40 km in the North Sea and about 2 km at the site.
Please notice that the bathymetry used in this example and shown in
Figure 4.8 and Figure 4.9 is a modified version of the bathymetry used in the
forecast model.
Figure 4.8 Computational mesh and bathymetry
Figure 4.9 Local refinement of the mesh at Horns Rev
Wind forcing
During the peak of the storm (7 November 2000 00:00) the wind is blowing
from easterly directions with a wind speed of about 20 m/s in central North
Sea and about 10 m/s at the West-coast of Jutland, Denmark. An example of
a wind field is shown Figure 4.10.
Figure 4.10 Wind field during the peak for the storm
35
EXAMPLES
The minimum frequency is 0.055 Hz, the frequency ratio is 1.1 and there are
25 discrete frequencies in this case. Hence the frequency spectrum is
resolved within the frequency range [0.055; 0.6] Hz.
The 360° rose is resolved with 16 discrete directions.
Time integration
The time step is 900 s (or 15 minutes) and the number of time steps is 672.
This corresponds to a one-week period simulation time.
Figure 4.11 shows a map of the significant wave height for the entire domain,
while Figure 4.12 and Figure 4.13 shows time series of the wave height,
spectral peak wave period and mean wave period at the two measurement
stations. The comparison between model and measured data is seen to be
very good.
Figure 4.14 shows examples of simulated directional wave spectra at Horns

Rev (created by Polar Plot in the MIKE Zero Plot Composer).
Figure 4.11 Maps of the significant wave height at the peak of the storm
Figure 4.12 Time series of significant wave height (upper), spectral peak wave
period (middle) and mean wave period (lower) at the offshore buoy
(Ekofisk)
37
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.13 Time series of significant wave height, spectral peak wave period and
mean wave period at onshore buoy (Horns Rev)
Wave Transformation on a Barred Beach
Figure 4.14 Simulated directional spectra at Horns Rev. The plots are made using
the Polar plot control in the MIKE Zero plot composer
The following data files (included in the \sw\NorthSea folder) are supplied
with MIKE 21 SW:
File name: bathy.mesh

File name: wind.dfs2

Description: 2D time series of wind velocity components
File name: setup.sw

4.4 Wave Transformation on a Barred Beach
The purpose of this example is to study the wave transformation on a barred

beach using the directional decoupled parametric formulation. The site is
located north of Torsminde at the Danish West-Coast facing the North Sea.
The photograph in Figure 4.15 shows the location of the beach. From this
photograph it is possible to identify the breaking waves on an offshore bar as
well along the shoreline. Measured wave data is available at an offshore sta-
tion (Fjaltring, directional Waverider buoy, UTM co-ordinate easting: 441895
and northing: 6259258, water depth 17.5 m MSL) and onshore (Fjaltring, S4,
UTM co-ordinate easting: 445677 and northing: 6257941, water depth 4.5 m
MSL).
39
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.15 Location of site
Mesh and bathymetry

The model domain is 4 km x 9 km with a maximum water depth of about 20
m. The south, west and north boundaries are open where the offshore wave
condition is specified. The overall computational mesh is shown in
Figure 4.16. A local refinement with very high spatial resolution has been
made to the bar system in the northern part of the domain. A close-up of the
mesh in this area is shown in Figure 4.17. The spatial resolution is about 200
m offshore and 5-10 m at the bar.
41
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.17 Local depth-adaptive refinement of the mesh
Basic Equations
For this case we want to calculate a stationary solution using the directionally
decoupled parametric formulation. Hence, you should select ´Quasi-station-
ary formulation’ and ‘Directionally decoupled parametric formulation’.
Boundary conditions
The offshore wave condition is Hm0= 2.84 m, Tp= 9.1 s, MWD= 271°N and
directional spreading index n= 7. This condition is applied along the offshore
(west) boundary. A lateral boundary condition is used along the northern and
southern boundary. This type of boundary condition is a good approximation
when the boundary line is almost straight and when the depth contours are
almost perpendicular to the line. This event corresponds to a situation
occurred 28 February 1999 18:00. The corresponding water level is +0.64 m
MSL.
The directional sector 240°-300°N is resolved with 13 directions. This results
in a 5° directional resolution.
Solution Technique
The default parameters for the iterative method can be used for this case.
However, you may choose to save information of the iterative procedure.
Figure 4.18 shows a map of the significant wave height for the entire domain.
The convergence of the iterative algorithm is shown in Figure 4.19.
Figure 4.18 Map of the significant wave height
43
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.19 Convergence of

a) RMS-norm of the residual as function of the iteration number and
b) significant wave height at the onshore boundary buoy as function of
the iteration number.
The following data files (included in the \sw\Fjaltring folder) are supplied with
MIKE 21 SW:
File name: Nourtec_Mesh.mesh

File name: Model_setup.sw

Wave Transformation Around an Island
4.5 Wave Transformation Around an Island
The overall objective of this example is to study the wave transformation

around an island where flooding and drying occurs due to a varying still water
level. The directional decoupled parametric formulation is used. The results
are compared to model results obtained with the phase-resolving MIKE 21
BW 2DH Boussinesq Wave Module including wave breaking and moving
shoreline.
Mesh and bathymetry

The model domain is 1 km x 1 km. The bathymetry is an elliptic paraboloid
having an elevation of approximately +0.2 m (above the still water level) at
the top point and decreasing to a constant depth of 16 m offshore. The mesh
and bathymetry are shown in Figure 4.20.
45
EXAMPLES
The unstructured mesh includes 4646 elements. The spatial resolution is 20-
30 m at 16 m depth and 10-15 m at the initial dry points on the island.
Boundary conditions
The offshore wave conditions is Hm0= 2.0 m, Tp= 8 s, MWD = 270 N and
directional spreading index n= 8 (Type 1 boundary formulation). This condi-
tion is applied at the west, north and south boundaries. The east boundary is
a fully absorbing land boundary.
Water level conditions

A time varying water level is used in this example to illustrate the handling of
flooding and drying in the model. The initial and final water level is 4 m below
the still water level. Figure 4.21 shows the time series of the water level.
Figure 4.21 Time varying water level
The 360° directional space is resolved by 18 directions.
Time integration
The time step is 2 s and the number of time steps is 900 corresponding to a
30-minute simulation time. An instationary time formulation is used in this
case in order to keep the simulation time low. This approach is sufficient for
illustration of the handling of flooding and drying.
Figure 4.22 shows maps of the significant wave height at water level –4 m
MSL (time 12:30) and +2 m MSL (time 12:15). In the last case, the significant
wave height is approximately 1.1 m at the top of the island. This is in excel-
lent agreement with the experience of Hm0 ~ 0.5h ~ 1.1 m (h= 2.2 m is the
water depth) in the breaking zone.
47
EXAMPLES
Figure 4.22 Maps of the significant wave height at two different instances (upper at
water level –4 m MSL and lower at water level +2 m MSL)
Results from a MIKE 21 SW simulation using a constant water level of 0 m

MSL have been compared to results from MIKE 21 BW including wave break-
ing and moving shoreline(1). Figure 4.23 shows maps of significant wave
heights and wave directions.
1 The model setup used for MIKE 21 BW is included in the installation, please see .\Examples\MIKE_21\BW\Island
Figure 4.23 Maps of the significant wave height and mean wave direction. Upper
panel shows MIKE 21 SW results and lower panel shows results from a
MIKE 21 BW simulation. The directional analysis of the Boussinesq
model results is made by using the WSWAT Directional Wave Analysis
tool available in MIKE Zero
In Figure 4.24 a comparison is made between the two models prediction of

the significant wave height along two cross-sections. An excellent agreement
49
EXAMPLES
is seen in the wave breaking zone (x= 300-500 m, upper panel). MIKE 21 BW
predicts slightly higher waves immediately before breaking, which is due to
nonlinear shoaling. The observed oscillations offshore the breaking point are
caused by reflection from the island bathymetry.
Please note the wave height is reduced to zero at the boundaries as fully
absorbing boundaries (sponge layers) were used in the MIKE 21 BW simula-
tion. Behind the island the phase-resolving model (MIKE 21 BW) results in
larger waves than the phase-averaged model (MIKE 21 SW), which is
caused by effects of diffraction, reflection and nonlinearities.
The following data files (included in the \SW\Island folder) are supplied with
MIKE 21 SW:
File name: Island.mesh

File name: Setup.sw

File name: Waterlevel.dfs0

Description: Water level variation in time
Figure 4.24 Comparison between modelled significant wave height using a phase-
averaged model (MIKE 21 SW) and a phase-resolving model (MIKE 21
BW). Upper panel shows a comparison along y= 500 m (west-east
direction) and lower panel shows a comparison along x= 500 m (south-
north direction)
51
EXAMPLES
Domain
5 BASIC PARAMETERS
5.1 Domain
Providing MIKE 21 SW with a suitable mesh is essential for obtaining reliable
results from your model. Setting up the mesh includes selection of the appro-
priate area to be modelled, adequate resolution of the bathymetry, wave,
wind and flow fields under consideration and definition of codes for open and
land boundaries. Furthermore, the resolution in the geographical space must
also be selected with respect to stability considerations.
The MIKE 21 SW is based on flexible mesh approach.
5.1.1 Mesh and bathymetry
You have to generate your mesh file in the MIKE Zero Mesh Generator, which
is a tool for the generation and handling of unstructured meshes, including
the definition and editing of boundaries.
The mesh file is an ASCII file including information of the geographical posi-
tion and bathymetry for each node point in the mesh. The file also includes
information of the node-connectivity in the triangular element mesh.
5.1.2 Domain Specification
Map projection
If the mesh is generated by the MIKE Zero Mesh Generator, the map projec-
tion is defined in the mesh file and is only shown for reference. If the map pro-
jection is not defined in the mesh file, you have to select the correct map
projection corresponding to the data in the mesh file.
Minimum depth cutoff

Computations made on water depth less than the minimum depth cutoff are
performed using the minimum depth cutoff value. Please note that depths are
negative as they are in the mesh file.
If you also apply a datum shift - the depth cutoff is relative to the corrected
depths.
For instance - you have a mesh file with values between +2 and -20 meters.
You then shift these to a different datum with a shift of +1 meters. Your cor-
rected bathymetry now ranges between +1 and -21 m. You then cutoff all
depths above -2m, leaving the bathymetry used in the model to range
between -2 and -21 m.
53
BASIC PARAMETERS
Datum shift
You can use any convenient datum for setting up the mesh of your model.
This can be Chart Datum (CD), Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) or Mean Sea
Level (MSL). The actual datum is unimportant. What is important is, that for
each simulation, you must provide the model with the correct height of the
model reference level relative to the datum used in the set up of your bathym-
etry. Specifying the datum shift does this. In this way it is possible to carry out
simulations using a range of different water levels without having to alter the
mesh file.
If you do not plan to apply different water levels in different simulations it is

recommended that you set up your bathymetry with the datum that you plan
use in the simulations, thus having a datum shift of 0 m.
A datum shift of e.g. 2 m (-2 m) means the water depth is increased (reduced)
by 2 m in all node points.
Mesh decomposition
To improve the performance of the numerical scheme it is possible to include
reordering of the mesh (renumbering of the element and node numbers). This
can significantly speed up the computational time by optimizing the memory
access.
Note: When reordering is applied the numbering of the nodes and elements
in the output files has been changed compared to the information in the mesh
file. The information in the log file corresponds to the new ordering.
To improve the performance of the numerical scheme a domain decomposi-

tion technique is applied. You can specify the number of subdomain. If reor-
dering is included the reordering is applied at subdomain level.
5.1.3 Boundary Names
When you generate your mesh using the MIKE Zero Mesh Generator you
already have defined a code value for open water boundaries. Figure 5.1
shows the definition of codes in a simple application.
Time
Figure 5.1 The definition of boundary codes in a mesh is made in the Mesh Gener-
ator
In this case three open boundaries have been detected from the mesh file
specified in the domain parameters; code 2, code 3 and code 4. In the main
Boundary Conditions dialog you can re-name the code values to more appro-
priate names, see Figure 5.2.
Figure 5.2 Change of default code names (from the mesh file) to more appropriate
names
5.2 Time
The period to be covered by the simulation is specified in this dialog. You
have to specify the simulation start date, the overall number of time steps and
the overall time step interval (in seconds).
Using the Instationary formulation (see section 6.4.1) the overall discrete time
steps specified on this page are only used to determine the frequency for
which output can be obtained. The time step used in the calculation is deter-
mined dynamically during the simulation.
Using the Quasi-stationary formulation (see section 6.4.2) the overall discrete
time steps are used to determine the time steps for which a stationary solu-
tion is calculated and thereby the overall frequency for which output can be
obtained.
The simulation always starts with time step number 0 and the simulation start
date is the historical data and time corresponding to time step 0. The simula-
tion end date is presented for reference.
55
BASIC PARAMETERS
Basic equations
6 SPECTRAL WAVE MODULE

The spectral wave module simulates the growth, decay and transformation of
wind-generated waves and swell in offshore and coastal areas.
6.1 Basic equations

The spectral wave module is based on the wave action balance equation
where the wave field is represented by the wave action density spectrum N
(, ). The independent phase parameters (fully spectral formulation only)
have been chosen as the relative (intrinsic) angular frequency,  = 2 f and
the direction of wave propagation, .
The relation between the wave energy density spectrum E(, ) and the wave
action density spectrum is given by
N = E
---- (6.1)

6.1.1 Spectral formulation
The spectral wave module includes two different formulations
 Directionally decoupled parametric formulation

 Fully spectral formulation
The directionally decoupled parametric formulation is based on a parameteri-

zation of the wave action conservation equation. Following Holthuijsen et al.
(1989) the parameterization is made in the frequency domain by introducing
the zeroth and first moment of the wave action spectrum as dependent varia-
bles.
The fully spectral formulation is based on the wave action conservation equa-
tion as described in e.g. Komen et al. (1994) and Young (1999), where the
directional-frequency wave action spectrum is the dependent variable.
6.1.2 Time formulation
The spectral wave module includes two time formulations
 Quasi-stationary formulation
 Instationary formulation
In the quasi-stationary mode, the time is removed as an independent variable

and a steady state solution is calculated at each time step.
57
SPECTRAL WAVE MODULE
6.1.3 Remarks and hints
As the fully spectral formulation simulates the evolution of the directional-fre-

quency wave action spectrum this model is several times slower than the
directionally decoupled parametric formulation.
Which model formulation to use?

The fully spectral formulation can in principle be used in wave studies involv-
ing wave growth, decay and transformation of wind-generated waves and
swell in offshore and coastal areas. However, the computationally less
demanding directionally decoupled parametric formulation is sufficient in a
number of situations. Examples of such cases are:
 small scale wave transformation applications, say, spatial scale is less

than 10-50 km
 applications where fully developed seas are dominating
 applications where swell and combined sea/swell is not important
Note, that forcing due to the wind can not be included using the instationary
directionally decoupled parametric formulation.
Which time formulation to use?

The quasi stationary formulation is sufficient in a number of situations and is
in general less computationally demanding then the instationary formulation.
Examples are:
 when the forcing (eg. wind) is slowing varying in space and time
 fetch limited wind-wave growth
 when individual wave events can be considered as independent
6.2 Time Parameters

The spectral wave calculation is activated at a start time step relative to the
start of the simulation specified on the Time dialog.
Note: the start time step can only be specified using the MIKE 21/3 Coupled
Model FM.
6.3 Spectral discretization

The dependent variable in the spectral mode is the directional-frequency
wave action spectrum in each node point. In this dialog you specify the dis-
crete frequencies and directions used to resolve the wave action spectrum in
the computations.
6.3.1 Frequency discretisation (fully spectral formulation only)
Two types of discretisation are available; logarithmic and equidistant distribu-

tion. It is recommended to always use the logarithmic distribution of frequen-
cies, which is given by
j
fj = f0 c  j = 0 1  n – 1
where fi is the frequency, f0 minimum frequency, c the frequency factor (= 1.1

as default) and n is the number of frequencies. The upper & lower bound of
each frequency bin is defined by fj = f0.c j+0.5 & fj = f0.c j-0.5, respectively.
The frequency range should cover wave frequencies expected to occur in the
computational domain. For typical offshore applications wave periods from 4
s to 25 s (i.e. frequencies from 0.25 Hz to 0.04 Hz) are found. In enclosed
waters wave periods of 2-3 s (i.e. frequencies from 0.33 Hz to 0.5 Hz) may
also be of interest and should be resolved.
6.3.2 Directional discretisation
Two types of discretisation are available; 360 degree rose and directional
sector. The 360 degrees compass rose is typically chosen for varying
wind/wave/swell directions. However, if the expected wind/wave/swell direc-
tions fall within a predefined range of directions, the choice of a directional
sector type of discretisation is recommended as it reduce the computational
time.
The number of discrete directions should be large enough to resolve the

directional variation of the waves. For swell with a relative narrow directional
distribution of the wave action/energy a relatively small directional resolution
is needed,  < 2°-10° (the first number (2°) corresponds to coastal areas
and the last number (10°) to offshore areas. For wind waves with a wider
directional distribution of the action/energy a resolution of about  < 10°-30°
is usually sufficient.
6.3.3 Separation of Wind-sea and Swell
The separation of wind-sea and swell can be used both in connection with
determination of the maximum prognostic frequency and white capping. As
standard the mean frequency, used in the determination of the maximum
prognostic frequency, is also calculated based on the whole spectrum. For
swell dominated wave conditions this can result in a too low cut-off frequency
and thereby an underestimation of the local generated wind waves. The pre-
dictions can be improved by calculation the mean frequency based on only
the wind-sea part of the spectrum.
59
SPECTRAL WAVE MODULE
For whitecapping the separation of wind-sea and swell can be used to

improve the results in case of strong swell. For more detail see Wave param-
eters (p. 80).
The separation of wind-sea and swell can be specified in three ways
 No separation
 Constant threshold frequency
 Dynamic threshold frequency
Selecting "Constant threshold frequency" you have to specify the threshold

frequency and selecting "Dynamic threshold frequency" you have to specify
the maximum threshold frequency.
For details regarding the distinction of wind-sea and swell, see the scientific
documentation (section 5.1 Field Type). The "Dynamic threshold frequency"
used here corresponds to the "Dynamic threshold frequency (version 1)"
described in the scientific documentation.
6.3.4 Remarks and hints
The recommended minimum number of discrete directions is 16.
6.4 Solution technique

The discretisation in geographical and spectral space is performed using a
cell-centered finite volume method. In the geographical domain, an unstruc-
tured mesh is used. The spatial domain is discretized by subdivision of the
continuum into non-overlapping elements. The convective fluxes are calcu-
lated using a first-order upwinding scheme.
6.4.1 Instationary formulation
The integration in time is based on a fractional step approach. Firstly, a prop-

agation step is performed calculating an approximate solution at the new time
level by solving the basic conservation equations without the source func-
tions. Secondly, a source function step is performed calculating the new solu-
tion from the estimated solution taking into account only the effect of the
source functions.
Algorithms for discretization in geographical and spectral domain

The simulation time and accuracy can be controlled by specifying the order of
the numerical schemes which are used in the numerical calculations. The
schemes for discretization in the geographical domain and the spectral
domain can be specified. You can select either a lower order scheme (first
order) or a higher order scheme. The lower order scheme is faster, but less

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MIKE 21 Spectral Waves FM

Spectral Wave Module

COPYRIGHT This document refers to proprietary computer software which is pro-

'IN NO EVENT SHALL DHI OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES

1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The following section, Section 2, INTRODUCTION, gives you a short descrip-

Section 3, GETTING STARTED, contains a step-by-step procedure which

Section 4, EXAMPLES, includes a number of simple and more complicated

Section 5, BASIC PARAMETERS, describes the necessary spatial and tem-

In Section 7, SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION, you can find information on

In Section 8, LIST OF REFERENCES, you can find a reference list.

An INDEX is found at the end of this MIKE 21 SW User Guide.

1.2 Assumed User Background

In this case, “common sense” means a background in wave mechanics which

1.3 General Editor Layout

1.3.1 Navigation tree

1.3.2 Editor window

1.3.3 Validation window

By double-clicking on an error in this window, the editor in which this error

1.4 Online Help

 F1-key seeking help on a specific activated dialog:

2.1 Short Description

Figure 2.1 MIKE 21 SW is a state-of-the-art numerical tool for prediction and

MIKE 21 SW includes two different formulations:

 Directional decoupled parametric formulation

The directional decoupled parametric formulation is based on a parameteri-

The basic conservation equations are formulated in either Cartesian co-ordi-

MIKE 21 SW includes the following physical phenomena:

 Wave growth by action of wind

The discretization of the governing equation in geographical and spectral

2.2 Application Areas

MIKE 21 SW is particularly applicable for simultaneous wave prediction and

MIKE 21 SW is also used in connection with the calculation of the sediment

Figure 2.3 Illustration of typical application areas

Figure 2.4 Example of a computational mesh used for transformation of offshore

MIKE 21 SW is also applied on global scale as illustrated in Figure 2.5.

2.3 Computational Features

 Fully spectral and directionally decoupled parametric formulations

 Coupling with hydrodynamic flow model for modelling of wave-current

 defining and limiting the wave problem

Please note that whenever a word is written in italics it is included as an entry

3.2 Defining and Limiting the Wave Problem

3.2.1 Identify the wave problem

 what are the “important wave phenomena”? The following phenomena

The MIKE 21 SW module can handle these phenomena with the

 what is the “area of influence” of the wave phenomena?

3.2.2 Check MIKE 21 SW capabilities

3.2.3 Selecting model formulation

3.2.4 Define computational domain

 discrete resolution in the geographical space must be selected to provide

In order to provide an accurate description of the transport of wave action the

3.2.5 Check computer resources

 the CPU time required should be estimated.

It is recommended to run the MIKE 21 SW examples included in the installa-

3.3 Collecting Data

3.4 Setting up the Model

3.4.1 What does it mean

“Setting up the model” is actually another way of saying transforming real