3.1.

4 Classification of water depth

For kinematics, the interval classification of water depth, deep, intermediate, and shallow can
be found in equation 3.18 according to [9].

𝐿
Deep water: 𝑑 > 2
1 𝑑 1
Intermediate water: < <2 Equation 3.18
20 𝐿
𝑑 1
Shallow water: 𝐿 < 20

The reason for those intervals is the changes in the depth dependent part of the velocity
potential.

3.1.5 Horizontal water particle velocities and accelerations

The last step in our linear theory will be to derive the velocity and acceleration formulas. They
can be found by taking the derivatives of the potential function. In our case, the horizontal
particle velocity and acceleration is needed for this thesis. Therefore, the potential function
needs to be derived with respect to x as shown in equation 3.19. This is to find the horizontal
particle velocity:
𝜕𝜙 Ϛ0 ∗ g ∗ k cosh 𝑘(𝑧 + 𝑑)
𝑢(𝑥, 𝑧, 𝑡) = = ∗ ∗ sin(ωt − kx) Equation 3.19
𝜕𝑥 ω cosh 𝑘𝑑

This formula can also simplify the depth dependent part of the equation, as shown above. Only
if it is deep or shallow water. We can also see that the horizontal velocity is on its max at the
wave crest. This is when sin(ωt − kx) = 1 and its minimum when sin(ωt − kx) = −1 which is
when the wave are at the through. It is also worth mention that the surface profile has the same
function as the horizontal velocity function.
The horizontal particle acceleration is found by derivative of the horizontal particle velocity
equation with respect to time, t, and obtaining:

𝜕𝑢 cosh 𝑘(𝑧 + 𝑑)
𝑎(𝑥, 𝑧, 𝑡) = = Ϛ0 ∗ g ∗ k ∗ ∗ cos(ωt − kx) Equation 3.20
𝜕𝑡 cosh 𝑘𝑑
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