This unification is obtained through quasi-determinism (QD) theory and small-scale field experiments (SSFEs).

With the QD theory, a deterministic wave mechanics is born by the theory of probability. The SSFEs are experiments performed, like in a big wave tank, in sea areas or lakes where wind seas have some small size.

An ocean engineering science may be founded on QD theory and SSFEs. This is an important novelty, because in all the books I have consulted the deterministic approach and the stochastic approach to wave theory are conceptually separated; and, similarly, there are two distinct experimental activities: field measurements and wave tank experiments.

In 15 papers published in Ocean Engineering, J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, J. Fluid Mechanics, Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, and J. Offshore Mechanics and Artic Engineering, and in a previous book published by Elsevier (2000), I presented the QD theory and many results of SSFEs. However, I did not point out openly that an ocean engineering science may be founded on these two pillars. Here, I intend to do this; and for this aim I shall present the QD theory in a simpler form, and devote a larger room to calculation of wave loads.

This book covers a wide area of potential interest: civil engineering, naval architecture, and mechanical engineering (because of the large room reserved to the problem of wave energy conversion). The area of greatest potential interest is civil engineering, and more specifically: ocean engineering, offshore engineering, port engineering, and coastal engineering. The book has been conceived to be read by students, researchers, and engineers.

The software illustrated in this book and given in the companion website is original and has only the didactic scope to make the new concepts clearer.

Wave Mechanics and Wave Loads on Marine Structures is a prerequisite to books like Handbook of Offshore Engineering by Chakrabarti (Elsevier, 2005), roughly, as a book on solid mechanics is a prerequisite to books on steel design or concrete design.