Linear Prediction Theory for Digital Simulation of Sea Waves

Most of the currently used algorithms for numerical generation of sea wave records which are compatible with a specified power spectrum are based on the super-position of several harmonic waves. This article presents an alternative method of simulation. The basis of the method is the Linear Prediction Theory (LPT) which has been extensively used in processing digital data in other technical fields. Specifically, records of sea waves which are compatible with the target spectrum are obtained as the output of a recursive digital filter to a white noise input. A procedure for determining the filter parameters is discussed. Several numerical examples are presented.