Cross-Correlation of Station-to-Station Free Surface Elevation Time Series for Breaking Water Waves

Free surface elevation time series of breaking water waves were measured in a laboratory flume. This was done in order to analyze changes in wave characteristics as the waves propagated from deep water to the shore. A pair of parallel- wire capacitive wave gages was used to simultaneously measure free surface elevations at different positions along the flume. One gage was kept fixed near the wave generator to provide a reference while the other was moved in steps of 0.1 m in the vicinity of the break point. Data from these two wave gages measured at the same time constitute station-to-station free surface elevation time series. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based cross-correlation techniques were employed to determine the time lag between each pair of the time series. The time lag was used to compute the phase shift between the reference wave gage and that at various points along the flume. Phase differences between two points spaced 0.1 m apart were used to calculate local mean wave phase velocity for a point that lies in the middle. Results show that moving from deep water to shallow water, the measured mean phase velocity decreases almost linearly from about 1.75 m/s to about 1.50 m/s at the break point. Just after the break point, wave phase velocity abruptly increases to a maximum value of 1.87 m/s observed at a position 30 cm downstream of the break point. Thereafter, the phase velocity decreases, reaching a minimum of about 1.30 m/s.