An interactive wave transformation visualisation tool

[Rafael Guedes]

Wavelab is a free, browser-based tool for visualising how waves propagate, refract, diffract and break across complex bathymetry. The underlying numerical model is REF/DIF, the refraction-diffraction model originally developed at the University of Delaware.

Wave conditions — period, height and direction — can be adjusted interactively, with refraction patterns, depth-induced breaking and phase-averaged wave heights updating in real time across the domain.

A key feature is the bathymetry editing toolkit, which allows users to easily draw and modify seabed features: reefs, breakwaters, channels, shoals and other structures. Custom bathymetry can also be imported as a GeoTIFF file for any site of interest.

The app comes preloaded with a range of scenarios: real-world breaks including Raglan (New Zealand) and the North Shore of Oahu, harbour geometries, and idealised cases such as plane beaches with varying slope and a real-scale analogue of the Berkhoff elliptic shoal experiment. It requires no installation and is well suited for educational use or exploring wave transformation concepts.

Built by Oceanum (https://oceanum.io) and accessible at https://wavelab.apps.oceanum.io — feedback is welcome.

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Dr Rafael Guedes

T:+64 21 0263 6530

oceanum.io