Real-time Simulation of Seas and Swells for Ship Maneuvering Simulators

Sekil Park, Jaeyong Oh, Jinah Park

http://doi.org/

Seas and swells are basic wave types in ocean surface simulation and are very important elements in the simulation of ocean background. In this paper, we propose a real-time simulation method, for reproducing realistic seas and swells, to be used in real-time simulators such as ship maneuvering simulators. Seas and swells have different visual properties. Swells have relatively longer wavelengths and round crests compared with seas, therefore they are visualized globally with large meshes and procedural methods. Parameters to illustrate swells are extracted from ocean wave spectra. Conversely, seas have shorter wavelengths and their characteristics are only clearly apparent near to the observation point. Here, we present visualization of seas based on a statistical wave model using ocean wave spectra, which provides realistic results in a reactively small area.