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REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE BEFORE COMPLETING FORM 
1. REPORT NUMBER 2. GOVT ACCESSION NO] 3. RECIPIENT'S CATALOG NUMBER 
CREAN SI=3) 
4. TITLE (and Subtitle) 5. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED 
Coastal Engineering 
Technical Aid 
6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 
8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(s) 
A MODEL FOR THE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION 
FOR SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT 
7. AUTHOR(S) 
Edward F. Thompson 
10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK 
9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 
AREA & WORK UNIT NUMBERS 
Department of the Army 
Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERRE-CO) 
Kingman Building, Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060 
A31463 
12. REPORT DATE 
January 1981 
13. NUMBER OF PAGES 
16 
15. SECURITY CLASS. (of this report) 
. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 
Department of the Army 
Coastal Engineering Research Center 
Kingman Building, Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060 
MONITORING AGENCY NAME & ADDRESS(if different from Controlling Office) 
14. 
UNCLASSIFIED 
DECL ASSIFICATION/ DOWNGRADING 
SCHEDULE 
15a, 
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of this Report) 
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. 
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of the abstract entered in Block 20, if different from Report) 
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- KEY WORDS (Continue on reverse side if necessary and identify by block number) 
Nags Head, North Carolina Wave heights 
Shallow-water gage data Wave model 
ABSTRACT (Continue on reverse side if necesaary and identify by block number) 
A model based on a three-parameter Weibull distribution function is given for the long- 
term distribution of significant wave height. The model, formulated in dimensionless terms, 
is believed to provide a more general representation than the corresponding models given in 
the Shore Protection Manual (SPM). A procedure for using available data from a site to 
estimate model parameters is described. The procedure extends the use of available data 
and leads to a model which more closely follows the data than the procedures in the SPM. 
The procedure is applied to shallow-water gage data from Nags Head, North Carolina. Exam- 
ple problems are given to illustrate the use of the model at the Nags Head site. 
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