scholarly journals Transverse instability of interfacial solitary waves

2008 ◽  
Vol 611 ◽  
pp. 255-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAKESHI KATAOKA

The linear stability of finite-amplitude interfacial solitary waves in a two-layer fluid of finite depth is examined analytically on the basis of the Euler equations. An asymptotic analysis is performed, which provides an explicit criterion of instability in the case of long-wavelength transverse disturbances. This result leads to the general statement that, when the amplitude of the solitary wave is increased, the solution becomes transversely unstable before an exchange of longitudinal stability occurs.

2010 ◽  
Vol 657 ◽  
pp. 126-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAKESHI KATAOKA

In a previous work, Kataoka & Tsutahara (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 512, 2004a, p. 211) proved the existence of longitudinally stable but transversely unstable surface solitary waves by asymptotic analysis for disturbances of small transverse wavenumber. In the present paper, the same transverse instability is examined numerically for the whole range of solitary-wave amplitudes and transverse wavenumbers of disturbances. Numerical results show that eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of growing disturbance modes agree well with those obtained by the asymptotic analysis if the transverse wavenumber of the disturbance is small. As the transverse wavenumber increases, however, the growth rate of the disturbance, which is an increasing function for small wavenumbers, reaches a maximum and finally falls to zero at some finite wavenumber. Thus, there is a high-wavenumber cutoff to the transverse instability. For higher amplitude, solitary waves become longitudinally unstable, and the dependence of the eigenvalues on the transverse wavenumber exhibits various complicated patterns. We found that such eigenvalues versus transverse wavenumber can be simply grouped into three basic classes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 871 ◽  
pp. 1028-1043
Author(s):  
M. Abid ◽  
C. Kharif ◽  
H.-C. Hsu ◽  
Y.-Y. Chen

The bifurcation of two-dimensional gravity–capillary waves into solitary waves when the phase velocity and group velocity are nearly equal is investigated in the presence of constant vorticity. We found that gravity–capillary solitary waves with decaying oscillatory tails exist in deep water in the presence of vorticity. Furthermore we found that the presence of vorticity influences strongly (i) the solitary wave properties and (ii) the growth rate of unstable transverse perturbations. The growth rate and bandwidth instability are given numerically and analytically as a function of the vorticity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 668 ◽  
pp. 582-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEIR K. PEDERSEN

When a wave of permanent form is obliquely incident on an inclined plane, the wave pattern becomes stationary in a frame of reference which moves along the shore. This enables a simplified mathematical description of the problem which is used herein as a basis for efficient and accurate numerical simulations. First, a nonlinear and weakly dispersive set of Boussinesq equations for the downstream evolution of such stationary patterns is derived. In the hydrostatic approximation, streamline-based Lagrangian versions of the evolution equations are developed for automatic tracing of the shoreline. Both equation sets are, in their present form, developed for non-breaking waves only. Finite difference models for both equation sets are designed. These methods are then coupled dynamically to obtain a single nonlinear model with dispersive wave propagation in finite depth and an accurate runup representation. The models are tested by runup of waves at normal incidence and comparison with a more general model for the refraction of a solitary wave on a slope. Finally, a set of runup computations for oblique solitary waves is performed and compared with estimates of oblique runup heights obtained from a combination of an analytic solution for normal incidence and optics. We find that the runup heights decrease in proportion to the square of the angle of incidence for angles up to 45°, for which the height is reduced by around 12% relative to that of normal incidence. In Appendix A, the validity of the downstream formulation is discussed in the light of solitary wave optics and wave jumps.


1993 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 433-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.-C. Chang ◽  
E. A. Demekhin ◽  
D. I. Kopelevich

Wave formation on a falling film is an intriguing hydrodynamic phenomenon involving transitions among a rich variety of spatial and temporal structures. Immediately beyond an inception region, short, near-sinusoidal capillary waves are observed. Further downstream, long, near-solitary waves with large tear-drop humps preceded by short, front-running capillary waves appear. Both kinds of waves evolve slowly downstream such that over about ten wavelengths, they resemble stationary waves which propagate at constant speeds and shapes. We exploit this quasi-steady property here to study wave evolution and selection on a vertically falling film. All finite-amplitude stationary waves with the same average thickness as the Nusselt flat film are constructed numerically from a boundary-layer approximation of the equations of motion. As is consistent with earlier near-critical analyses, two travelling wave families are found, each parameterized by the wavelength or the speed. One family γ1travels slower than infinitesimally small waves of the same wavelength while the other family γ2and its hybrids travel faster. Stability analyses of these waves involving three-dimensional disturbances of arbitrary wavelength indicate that there exists a unique nearly sinusoidal wave on the slow family γ1with wavenumber αs(or α2) that has the lowest growth rate. This wave is slightly shorter than the fastest growing linear mode with wavenumber αmand approaches the wave on γ1with the highest flow rate at low Reynolds numbers. On the fast γ2family, however, multiple bands of near-solitary waves bounded below by αfare found to be stable to two-dimensional disturbances. This multiplicity of stable bands can be interpreted as a result of favourable interaction among solitary-wave-like coherent structures to form a periodic train. (All waves are unstable to three-dimensional disturbances with small growth rates.) The suggested selection mechanism is consistent with literature data and our numerical experiments that indicate waves slow down immediately beyond inception as they approach the short capillary wave with wavenumber α2of the slow γ1family. They then approach the long stable waves on the γ2family further downstream and hence accelerate and develop into the unique solitary wave shapes, before they succumb to the slowly evolving transverse disturbances.


2001 ◽  
Vol 439 ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. BRIDGES

Transverse stability and instability of solitary waves correspond to a class of perturbations that are travelling in a direction transverse to the direction of the basic solitary wave. In this paper we consider the problem of transverse instability of solitary waves for the water-wave problem, from both the model equation point of view and the full water-wave equations. A new universal geometric condition for transverse instability forms the backbone of the analysis. The theory is first illustrated by application to model PDEs for water waves such as the KP equation, and then it is applied to the full water-wave problem. This is the first theory proposed for transverse instability of solitary waves of the full water-wave problem. The theory suggests the introduction of a new functional for water waves, whose importance is suggested by the mathematical structure. Without explicit calculation, the theory is used to argue that the basic class of solitary waves of the water-wave problem, which bifurcate at Froude number unity, are likely to be stable to transverse perturbations, even at large amplitude.


Progressive, irrotational gravity waves of constant form exist as a two-parameter family. The first parameter, the ratio of mean depth to wavelength, varies from zero (the solitary wave) to infinity (the deep-water wave). The second parameter, the wave height or amplitude, varies from zero (the infinitesimal wave) to a limiting value dependent on the first parameter. For limiting waves the wave crest ceases to be rounded and becomes angled, with an included angle of 120°. Most methods of calculating finite-amplitude waves use either a form of series expansion or the solution of an integral equation. For waves nearing the limiting amplitude many terms (or nodal points) are needed to describe the wave form accurately. Consequently the accuracy even of recent solutions on modern computers can be improved upon, except at the deep-water end of the range. The present work extends an integral equation technique used previously in which the angled crest of the limiting wave is included as a specific term, derived from the well known Stokes corner flow. This term is now supplemented by a second term, proposed by Grant in a study of the flow near the crest. Solutions comprising 80 terms at the shallow-water end of the range, reducing to 20 at the deep-water end, have defined many field and integral properties of the flow to within 1 to 2 parts in 106. It is shown that without the new crest term this level of accuracy would have demanded some hundreds of terms while without either crest term many thousands of terms would have been needed. The practical limits of the computing range are shown to correspond, to working accuracy, with the theoretical extremes of the solitary wave and the deep-water wave. In each case the results agree well with several previous accurate solutions and it is considered that the accuracy has been improved. For example, the height: depth ratio of the solitary wave is now estimated to be 0.833 197 and the height: wavelength ratio of the deep-water wave to be 0.141063. The results are presented in detail to facilitate further theoretical study and early practical application. The coefficients defining the wave motion are given for 22 cases, five of which, including the two extremes, are fully documented with tables of displacement, velocity, acceleration, pressure and time. Examples of particle orbits and drift profiles are presented graphically and are shown for the extreme waves to agree very closely with simplified calculations by Longuet-Higgins. Finally, the opportunity has been taken to calculate to greater accuracy the long-term Lagrangian-mean angular momentum of the maximum deep-water wave, according to the recent method proposed by Longuet-Higgins, with the conclusion that the level of action is slightly above the crest.


1996 ◽  
Vol 317 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Longuet-Higgins ◽  
M. J. H. Fox

The behaviour of the energy in a steep solitary wave as a function of the wave height has a direct bearing on the breaking of solitary waves on a gently shoaling beach. Here it is shown that the speed, energy and momentum of a steep solitary wave in water of finite depth all behave in an oscillatory manner as functions of the wave height and as the limiting height is approached. Asymptotic formulae for these and other wave parameters are derived by means of a theory for the ‘almost-highest wave’ similar to that formulated previously for periodic waves in deep water (Longuet-Higgins & Fox 1977, 1978). It is demonstrated that the theory fits very precisely some recent calculations of solitary waves by Tanaka (1995).


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 409-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. MAMUN ◽  
K. S. ASHRAFI ◽  
M. G. M. ANOWAR

AbstractThe dust ion-acoustic solitary waves (SWs) in an unmagnetized dusty adiabatic electronegative plasma containing inertialess adiabatic electrons, inertial single charged adiabatic positive and negative ions, and stationary arbitrarily (positively and negatively) charged dust have been theoretically studied. The reductive perturbation method has been employed to derive the Korteweg-de Vries equation which admits an SW solution. The combined effects of the adiabaticity of plasma particles, inertia of positive or negative ions, and presence of positively or negatively charged dust, which are found to significantly modify the basic features of small but finite-amplitude dust-ion-acoustic SWs, are explicitly examined. The implications of our results in space and laboratory dusty electronegative plasmas are briefly discussed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Craig ◽  
Peter Sternberg

This article considers certain two-dimensional, irrotational, steady flows in fluid regions of finite depth and infinite horizontal extent. Geometrical information about these flows and their singularities is obtained, using a variant of a classical comparison principle. The results are applied to three types of problems: (i) supercritical solitary waves carrying planing surfaces or surfboards, (ii) supercritical flows past ship hulls and (iii) supercritical interfacial solitary waves in systems consisting of two immiscible fluids.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-516
Author(s):  
Frank Verheest

In a recent paper ‘Propagation of solitary waves and shock wavelength in the pair plasma (J. Plasma Phys. 78, 525–529, 2012)’, Malekolkalami and Mohammadi investigate nonlinear electrostatic solitary waves in a plasma comprising adiabatic electrons and positrons, and a stationary ion background. The paper contains two parts: First, the solitary wave properties are discussed through a pseudopotential approach, and then the influence of a small dissipation is intuitively sketched without theoretical underpinning. Small dissipation is claimed to lead to a shock wave whose wavelength is determined by linear oscillator analysis. Unfortunately, there are errors and inconsistencies in both the parts, and their combination is incoherent.


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