Quantitative metrics for evaluation of wave fields in basins

Abstract

Scale model testing in wave basins is a necessary part of the development of marine structures and marine renewable energy devices. Whilst many guidelines exist for the quality of experimentation and data acquisition, there are no standards for the basins themselves. We propose methodologies for assessing the quality of a wave field generated in a basin: a clustering parameter based on the variance of surface elevation at multiple gauges is used to score homogeneity and extended to a skill score for relative quality benchmarking. We use historic and recent data from the University of Plymouth's Ocean Basin as a case study for the methods. The quality metrics indicate that physical aspects of the basin itself, such as water depth, contribute the most to the accuracy and homogeneity with wave period performing better than height. Recommendations for experimentalists, such as using basins when operating in steady state, are presented and discussed.