Abstract: In this paper, the SWAN model is used to build a wave model covering the areas of whole Taiwan Strait and the eastern sea of Taiwan Island. Accordingly, the wind wave field, the design wave elements of Chongwu ocean station and the extreme wave field of Xisha Bay were calculated. The results show that the absolute errors of the effective wave height between the calculated values and the measured values at four buoy stations are within 0.20 m, and the average absolute error is 0.13 m. The average absolute error of the calculated design wave value and the multiyear data calculated value of Chongwu ocean station is 0.14 m and the average relative error is 1.9%. The mean absolute errors of SWAN and CGWAVE are 0.11 m, 0.10 m and 0.07 m in S, SE and SSW directions, respectively, while the mean relative errors are less than 3%. The above calculation results show that SWAN model has good adaptabilities in the wind wave field simulation and the calculations of wave elements design.