Twodifferentmethodsforincorporatingdiffractioneffectintowaveactionbalanceequationbasedcoastalspectralwavemodels,WABEDandSWAN,arediscussedandevaluatedwithrespecttotheirformulations,numericalimplementations,andmodelingcapabilities.Bothmodelswereruntosimulatethewavetransformationthroughagapbetweentwoinfinitelylongbreakwatersandthatacrossanellipticalshoalobservedinlaboratorystudies,withtheemphasislaidonthediffractioninducedbyeitherobstaclesorwaveamplitudevariations.CalculationsofWABEDwerecomparedwithSommerfeld'sanalyticalsolutions,experimentalobservationsandSWANsimulations.Itisshownthatbothmethodscanpredictreasonablywavediffractionforthetwocasesstudiedherein,andafairlybetterperformanceisprovidedbyWABEDforstrongerdiffractioncase.
