The accurate description of the complex genesis and evolution of ocean waves, as well as the associated kinematics and dynamics is indispensable for the design of offshore structures and the assessment of marine operations. In the majority of cases, the water-wave problem is reduced to potential flow theory on a somehow simplified level. However, the nonlinear terms in the surface boundary conditions and the fact that they must be fulfilled on the unknown water surface make the boundary value problem considerably complex. Hereby, the contrary objectives with respect to a very accurate representation of reality and numerical efficiency must be balanced wisely. This paper investigates the influence of characteristic sea state parameters on the accuracy of irregular wave field simulations of different complexity. For this purpose, the high-order spectral method was applied and the underlying Taylor series expansion was truncated at different orders so that numerical simulations of different complexity can be investigated. It is shown that, for specific characteristic sea state parameters, the boundary value problem can be significantly reduced while providing sufficient accuracy.
