Application 4: controlled freak wave generation and recreation in hydrodynamic facilities

This chapter summarizes the most significant and impactful experimental advances relating to the creation and control of deepwater rogue waves in flumes and basins. Three experimental generation mechanisms will be elucidated: dispersive focusing (superposition principle), nonlinear focusing (modulation instability), and the time-reversal principle. This contribution will also touch on the recreation of in situ ocean freak waves on a laboratory scale and address the benefits of such small-scale experiments for marine engineering applications. The impact of such laboratory studies on the research progress in ocean engineering and wave physics will also be highlighted.