A SPECTRAL FEEDBACK COMPENSATION TECHNIQUE FOR THE GENERATION OF RANDOM WAVE-FIELDS

Computer software was developed to control an electromechanical wave g enerator to accurately simulate random wave fields derived from mathem atical spectral models. The software algorithm makes use of a spectral feedback control technique to improve accuracy and reliability in the continuous generation of random waves in the laboratory were conducte d to investigate the advantages of this closed-loop control technique over more commonly used open-loop random wave generation methods. The results show a decided advantage in using closed-loop control for the generation of random waves, especially for double-peak wave spectra an d model testing purposes.