Conditional Second Order Short-crested Water Waves Applied to Extreme Wave Episodes

A derivation of the mean second order short-crested wave pattern and associated wave kinematics, conditional on a given magnitude of the wave crest, is presented. The analysis is based on the second order Sharma and Dean finite water wave theory. A comparison with a measured extreme wave profile, the Draupner New Year Wave, shows a good agreement in the mean, indicating that this second order wave can be a good identifier of the shape and occurrence of extreme wave events. A discussion on its use as an initial condition for a fully non-linear three-dimensional surface wave analysis is given.