CONTENTS 



Page 



CONVERSION FACTORS, U.S. CUSTOMARY TO METRIC (SI) 6 



SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS 7 



I INTRODUCTION 9 



1. Engineering Practice and This Review 9 



2. Types and Locations of Currents 10 



3. Typical Examples of Wave-Current Interactions 11 



II EFFECTS OF CURRENTS ON WAVES 12 



1. Scales 12 



2. Effects of a Horizontally and Vertically Uniform Current .... 13 



3. Effects of Vertical Variation of Current Velocity 23 



4. Refraction of Waves by Currents — Theory 26 



5. Refraction of Waves by Currents — Simple Examples 33 



6. Dissipation and Turbulence 40 



7. General Solution Methods 42 



8. Small- and Medium-Scale Currents 44 



9. Experimental and Field Observations 45 



10. Nonlinear Effects in Refraction 46 



11. Caustics and Focusing 48 



12. Wave Breaking. 51 



III ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS 57 



1. Computer Programs for Wave-Current Interaction 57 



2. Forces on Structures in Waves and Currents 58 



3. Sediment Transport 61 



4. Field Data 65 



5. State-of-the-Art for Coastal Engineers 66 



6. Development of Capability and Understanding 67 



IV CONCLUSIONS 68 



LITERATURE CITED 70 



TABLES 



Minimum period of waves for which a current may be ignored in 



calculating surface amplitudes from bottom pressure measurements . . 20 



FIGURES 



1 Dimensionless magnitude of Stokes drift averaged over depth for 



the highest practical wave 16 



2 Multiple values of k for solutions of dispersion relation 



with collinear waves and currents 18 



3 Relative error in surface wave amplitude calculated from bottom 



pressures 21 



