Free Surface Flow over Obstacles at Subcritical Froude Numbers
Experiments were carried out on free-surface flow over obstacles of finite length. The obstacles were located on the otherwise horizontal surface which contained the free-surface flow. The Froude number in each case was subcritical and resulted in a train of lee waves on the surface, downstream of the obstacles. The results confirm the predicted phenomenon of ‘upstream influence’ – that the mean upstream depth and the mean downstream depth should differ. Serious discrepancies between the observed results and the results from existing theories are noted, however. Not only is the amplitude of the lee waves at variance with the theory, but the phasing of the wave train, relative to the obstacle, is different. An alternative theoretical approach is proposed, the results from which are in much better agreement with the observed results.