Prediction of Wave Parameters off the Nile Delta Coast of Egypt Using Nonlinear Regression Analysis

The waves are the most important factor to be considered in the near-shore and offshore activities. Recently, the offshore Nile delta of the Arab republic of Egypt has seen many discoveries in the oil and gas filed, especially in front of Alexandria and Port Said. Therefore, obtaining a formula for predicting wave characteristics based on the measured data of is very important, which will contribute significantly to marine studies and the preliminary engineering design in such mega projects. In this study, the 3 hourly significant wave heights () and periods () with corresponding data such as wind speed (u), fetch data (F), sea level pressure (p) and air temperature () used in analyses based on the hourly observations data. This paper focuses on the prediction of significant wave parameters by using nonlinear regression method based on dimensionless analysis (pi-theorem). Measured offshore waves and meteorological data for Alexandria and Port Said regions, located on the Nile delta coast of Egypt, used in this study. This study aims to find suitable formulas to predict the wave parameters, significant wave height and period, for these regions and evaluating its performance. The results indicated that the formulas gave the satisfactory results that can be used to predict the offshore wave parameters for the Nile delta of Egypt safely.