| Abstract: | By using a new concept of the discrete amplitude, we examine the statistical properties of narrow-banded random waves. The main results are as follows: (1) the wave height distribution follows the Rayleigh distribution in the case of an infinitely narrow-banded spectrum in the strict sense; (2) the discrete amplitudes, different from the crest heights, are distributed according to the Rayleigh distribution for arbitrary bandwidth spectra; (3) the statistical distribution of the gap length between the discrete amplitude and the crest is examined and derived theoretically. The derived distribution agrees well with the result of numerical simulations; (4) taking into account the gap length distribution, the probability density function of crest heights is derived, which deviates from the Rayleigh distribution. |
