A new kind of nonlinear mild-slope equation for combined refraction-diffraction of multifrequency waves

Abstract This paper presents the numerical solution of a new nonlinear mild-slope equation governing waves with different frequency components propagating in a region of varying water depth. There are two new nonlinear equations. The linear part of the equations is the mild-slope equation, and one of the models has the same non-linearity as the Boussinesq equations. The new equations are directly applicable to the problems of nonlinear wave-wave interactions over variable depth. The equations are first simplified with the parabolic approximation, and then solved numerically with a finite difference method. The Crank-Nicolson method is used to discretize the models. The numerical models are applied to a set of published experimental cases, which are nonlinear combined refraction-diffraction with generation of higher harmonic waves. Comparison of the results shows that the present models generally predict the measurements better than other nonlinear numerical models which have been applied to the data set.