oceanography-waves-lib

A C++ header-first library for simulating and analyzing ocean surface waves across deterministic and spectral models.

The project includes:

• Wave model implementations (trochoidal/Gerstner, cnoidal, Fenton, JONSWAP, Pierson–Moskowitz, and helpers).
• Simulation and plotting utilities for generating CSV outputs and figures.
• Test and validation executables for model behavior and spectrum checks.

Repository layout

• src/ — core wave model headers and shared utilities.
• tests/ — simple executable-based validation suite.
• data-sim/ — simulation executable for generating data.
• plots/ — plotting helpers (C++ and Python scripts).
• doc/ — LaTeX documentation and model notes.

Requirements

C++

• g++ (tested with modern C++ compilers)
• Eigen headers (expected at /usr/include/eigen3)

Optional (for plotting)

• Python 3
• Matplotlib / NumPy (for Python plotting scripts)

Building and running

1) Run test executable

cd tests
make
./tests

Test entry points are configured in tests/tests.cpp by preprocessor switches (FENTON_TEST, JONSWAP_TEST, PM_STOKES_TEST).

2) Build simulation binary

cd data-sim
make
./waves_sim

This target is useful for generating wave field/spectrum CSV output for further analysis.

3) Build plotting helper (C++)

cd plots
make
./fenton_plots

Python plotting utilities are also available in plots/ (for example wave_sim_plots.py and wave_spectrum_plots.py).

Available model headers

Core headers in src/ include:

• TrochoidalWave.h
• CnoidalWave.h
• FentonWaveVectorized.h
• Jonswap3dStokesWaves.h
• PiersonMoskowitzStokes3D_Waves.h
• DirectionalSpread.h
• SeaMetrics.h
• WavesCategories.h

These headers expose utilities for:

• Surface elevation and derivatives
• Particle kinematics (velocity/acceleration)
• Spectral wave generation and diagnostics
• Sea state and derived wave metrics

Minimal usage example

#include <iostream>
#include "TrochoidalWave.h"

int main() {
    TrochoidalWave<double> wave(1.0, 8.0); // amplitude [m], period [s]

    double t = 1.5;
    std::cout << "eta(t) = " << wave.surfaceElevation(t) << "\n";
    std::cout << "u(x0,z0,t) = " << wave.horizontalVelocity(0.0, -2.0, t) << "\n";
}

Compile (example):

g++ -O3 -I./src -I/usr/include/eigen3 your_file.cpp -o your_program

Notes

• Most of the library is header-based, so linking is typically straightforward.
• For reproducible experiments, keep generated CSV and plots versioned separately from source.
• Mathematical derivations and additional background are provided in the doc/ LaTeX sources.

License

This project is distributed under the terms of the LICENSE file in the repository root.