A Study on Kinematics Characteristics of Freak Wavt

Based on the 3rd-order Stokes wave theory, the speed of freak waves is formulated in terms of the period and the wave height. Finite modified wave steepness gives rise to a significant enhancement of the nonlinear contributions to the freak wave speed in comparison with the 3rd-order Stokes wave theory. For a fix modified wave steepness, the estimated amplification of the nonlinear contributions due to the deviation from the 3rd-order Stokes wave theory is 0.22-0.99. In addition, the velocity and acceleration fields are also documented in detail. In the present simulation, the horizontal velocities are smaller than the wave speed, and the freak wave exhibits a maximal horizontal velocity up to 37% of the wave speed and a maximal vertical acceleration up to about 20% of the gravitational acceleration.