Calibration of SWAN 40.20 for field cases Petten, Slotermeer and Westerschelde

The SWAN model version 40.20 has been calibrated against wave observations carried out in the storm of 26-27 October 2002 for the coastal area near Petten, the Slotermeer and the Westerschelde. Relevant parameters for the calibration have been determined on the basis of a sensitivity study of SWAN 40.20 with respect to numerical and physical settings for these field cases, for a wave flume situation and academic fetch-limited wave growth. In addition, the cumlative wave steepness method for the computation of whitecapping has been tested for these situations. A technique for the automatic calibration of SWAN against mesaured wave data has been developed and applied to a number of situations in the 26-27 October 2002 storm. The newly obtained settings have been verified against different field measured data in the same storm. In addition a number of suggestions for improving SWAN 40.20 have been formulated.