A new statistical model of wave heights based on the concept of wave breaking critical zone

When waves propagate from deep water to shallow water, wave heights and steepness increase and then waves roll back and break. This phenomenon is called surf. Currently, the present statistical calculation model of surf was derived mainly from the wave energy conservation equation and the linear wave dispersion relation, but it cannot reflect accurately the process which is a rapid increasing in wave height near the broken point. So, the concept of a surf breaking critical zone is presented. And the nearshore is divided as deep water zone, shallow water zone, surf breaking critical zone and after breaking zone. Besides, the calculation formula for the height of the surf breaking critical zone has founded based on flume experiments, thereby a new statistical calculation model on the surf has been established. Using the new model, the calculation error of wave height maximum is reduced from 17.62% to 6.43%.