Ocean wave measurement and wave climate prediction of peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents wave measurement and wave climate prediction within Peninsular Malaysia. Rayleigh and Weibull density functions were used to predict wave heights. The total wave energy density was found to be 17.69 MWh/m within an average year, whereas average wave power density varied from 0.15 to 6.49 kW/m. Furthermore, more than 60% of the annual wave energy was caused by wave heights between 0.2 to 1.2 m. Waves with peak periods between 2 and 8 s accounted for more than 70% of the total wave energy. The extreme significant wave heights were predicted, using Gumbel, Weibull and Generalised Pareto distributions, as having return periods of 10 to 200 years for the same locations. The extreme significant wave heights varied from 2.6 to 3.4 m for the aforementioned return periods. The results of the present study will contribute greatly to the design of ocean engineering projects.