scholarly journals Mutual Interaction between Surface Waves and Langmuir Circulations Observed in Wave-Resolving Numerical Simulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 2323-2339
Author(s):  
Yasushi Fujiwara ◽  
Yutaka Yoshikawa

AbstractWave-resolving simulations of monochromatic surface waves and Langmuir circulations (LCs) under an idealized condition are performed to investigate the dynamics of wave–current mutual interaction. When the Froude number (the ratio of the friction velocity of wind stress imposed at the surface and wave phase speed) is large, waves become refracted by the downwind jet associated with LCs and become amplitude modulated in the crosswind direction. In such cases, the simulations using the Craik–Leibovich (CL) equation with a prescribed horizontally uniform Stokes drift profile are found to underestimate the intensity of LCs. Vorticity budget analysis reveals that horizontal shear of Stokes drift induced by the wave modulation tilts the wind-driven vorticity to the downwind direction, intensifying the LCs that caused the waves to be modulated. Such an effect is not reproduced in the CL equation unless the Stokes drift of the waves modulated by LCs is prescribed. This intensification mechanism is similar to the CL1 mechanism in that the horizontal shear of the Stokes drift plays a key role, but it is more likely to occur because the shear in this interaction is automatically generated by the LCs whereas the shear in the CL1 mechanism is retained only when a particular phase relation between two crossing waves is kept locked for many periods.

2010 ◽  
Vol 660 ◽  
pp. 221-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. C. PHILLIPS ◽  
A. DAI ◽  
K. K. TJAN

The Lagrangian drift in anO(ϵ) monochromatic wave field on a shear flow, whose characteristic velocity isO(ϵ) smaller than the phase velocity of the waves, is considered. It is found that although shear has only a minor influence on drift in deep-water waves, its influence becomes increasingly important as the depth decreases, to the point that it plays a significant role in shallow-water waves. Details of the shear flow likewise affect the drift. Because of this, two temporal cases common in coastal waters are studied, viz. stress-induced shear, as would arise were the boundary layer wind-driven, and a current-driven shear, as would arise from coastal currents. In the former, the magnitude of the drift (maximum minus minimum) in shallow-water waves is increased significantly above its counterpart, viz. the Stokes drift, in like waves in otherwise quiescent surroundings. In the latter, on the other hand, the magnitude decreases. However, while the drift at the free surface is always oriented in the direction of wave propagation in stress-driven shear, this is not always the case in current-driven shear, especially in long waves as the boundary layer grows to fill the layer. This latter finding is of particular interest vis-à-vis Langmuir circulations, which arise through an instability that requires differential drift and shear of the same sign. This means that while Langmuir circulations form near the surface and grow downwards (top down), perhaps to fill the layer, in stress-driven shear, their counterparts in current-driven flows grow from the sea floor upwards (bottom up) but can never fill the layer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1691-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasushi Fujiwara ◽  
Yutaka Yoshikawa ◽  
Yoshimasa Matsumura

AbstractThe present study performs a wave-resolving simulation of wind-driven currents under monochromatic surface gravity waves using the latest nonhydrostatic free-surface numerical model. Here, phase speed of the waves is set much greater than the current speed. Roll structures very similar to observed Langmuir circulations (LCs) appear in the simulation only when both waves and down-wave surface currents are present, demonstrating that the rolls are driven by the wave–current interaction. A vorticity analysis of simulated mean flow reveals that the rolls are driven by the torque associated with wave motion, which arises from a correlation between wave-induced vorticity fluctuation and the wave motion itself. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the wave-induced torque is very well represented by the curl of the vortex force (VF), that is, the vector product of mean vorticity and Stokes drift velocity. Therefore, it is concluded that the simulated rolls are LCs and that the wave effects are well represented by the VF expression in the present simulation. The present study further revisits the scaling assumptions made by previous studies that derived VF formulation and shows that there is disagreement among the previous studies regarding the applicability of VF formulation when the wave orbital velocity (proportional to the amplitude times the frequency) is much smaller than the mean flow velocity. The result from the present simulation shows that the VF expression is still valid even with such small wave amplitudes, as long as phase speed of the waves is much greater than the current speed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 469 ◽  
pp. 317-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. C. PHILLIPS

The instability to longitudinal vortices of two-dimensional density-stratified temporally evolving wavy shear flow is considered. The problem is posited in the context of Langmuir circulations, LCs, beneath wind-driven surface waves and the instability mechanism is generalized Craik–Leibovich, either CLg or CL2. Of interest is the influence of non-stationary base flows on the instability according to linear theory. It is found that the instability is described by a family of similarity solutions and that the growth rate of the instability, in non-stationary base flows, is doubly exponential in time, although the growth rate reduces to exponential when the base flow is stationary. An example is given for weakly sheared wind-driven flow evolving in the presence of growing irrotational surface waves. Waves aligned both with the wind and counter to it are considered, as is the role of stratification. Antecedent to the example is an initial value problem posed by Leibovich & Paolucci (1981) for neutral waves in slowly evolving shear. Here, however, the waves and shear may grow (or decay) at rates comparable with the LCs. Furthermore the current here has two components: a wind-driven portion due to the wind stress applied at the free surface and a second due to the diffusion of momentum due to the wave-amplitude-squared free-surface stress condition. Using the case for neutral waves in non-stratified uniform shear for reference, it is found, in general, that growing waves are stabilizing while decaying waves are destabilizing to the formation of LCs, although the latter applies only for sufficiently large spanwise spacings and is subject to a globally stable lower bound. Decaying waves in the absence of wind can also be destabilizing to LCs. When the wind is counter to the waves, however, only decaying waves are unstable to LCs. Furthermore, while growing waves are stable to the formation of LCs in the presence of stable stratification, decaying waves are unstable in both aligned and opposed wind-wave conditions. Unstable stratification on the other hand, is destabilizing to LCs for all temporal waves in both aligned and opposed wind-wave conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom G. Mackay ◽  
Chenzhang Zhou ◽  
Akhlesh Lakhtakia
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Chukharev ◽  
M. I. Pavlov ◽  
◽  

Purpose. The study is aimed at qualitative and quantitative analysis (based on the updated previously proposed multiscale model) of the experimental data on turbulence intensity and their comparison with theoretical and semi-empirical relationships for the purpose of describing the contributions of various turbulence sources. Methods and Results. A comparative analysis of experimental data and model calculations of turbulence characteristics near the sea surface was performed. The methods of theoretical assessing generation of turbulence in the near-surface sea layer by various physical processes are considered. The results of calculations by the well-known models of turbulent exchange were compared with the experimental data collected by the scientists of the Turbulence Department of MHI, RAS, using the specialized equipment. The analysis results made it possible to determine the possibility of applying the considered models for calculating turbulence intensity under different hydrometeorological conditions. At light winds, none of the models yielded the results which matched the measurement data. At moderate winds, the simulation results showed quite satisfactory agreement with the experiment data; and for strong winds, the multiscale model results were the best. This model was modified to assess the contributions of two other mechanisms of turbulence generation: the Stokes drift and the Langmuir circulations. Conclusions. Objective assessment of the turbulent exchange intensity requires taking into account of three main mechanisms of turbulence generation, namely flow velocity shear, wave motions and wave breaking. Depending on the hydrometeorological situation, each of these mechanisms can dominate in a certain depth range. The calculations performed using the updated model showed that the Stokes drift added 2–17 % to the total dissipation in the upper 30-meter layer, whereas the contribution of the Langmuir circulations calculated through dependence of the vertical velocity of kinetic energy transfer upon the Langmuir number, can reach 15 % for small Langmuir numbers.


1947 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
William A. Lynch ◽  
Vincent Dillon

abstract One hundred and twenty-four Alaskan and Aleutian earthquakes have been recorded at Fordham in the years 1928-1944. The Galitzin-Wilip three-component seismograph recorded 84 of these well enough to supply a basis for the present study. All epicenters lie at about the same azimuth with respect to Fordham, between 311° and 325°, and at distances of from 40° to 70°; the waves reaching Fordham therefore traveled over much the same continental paths. P was often late in terms of Macelwane's tables; emergences and impulses were almost equal in number, the former predominating slightly; often, an emergence was soon followed by a sharp impulse. S was usually sharp on both horizontals. No evidence of False S was found. Reflected phases were not prominent in the records, PR1 being recorded on only about 20 per cent of them, SR1 on about 30 per cent. The surface waves were confused and difficult to identify; only very general conclusions can be drawn about them, the most significant being a dominant period of 13.5 seconds in the coda.


1979 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Y. Holyer

This paper contains a study of large amplitude, progressive interfacial waves moving between two infinite fluids of different densities. The highest wave has been calculated using the criterion that it has zero horizontal fluid velocity at the interface in a frame moving at the phase speed of the waves. For free surface waves this criterion is identical to the criterion due to Stokes, namely that there is a stagnation point at the crest of each wave. I t is found that as the density of the upper fluid increases relative to the density of the lower fluid the maximum height of the wave, for fixed wavelength, increases. The maximum height of a Boussinesq wave, which has the density almost the same above and below the interface, is 2·5 times the maximum height of a surface wave of the same wavelength. A wave with air over the top of it can be about 2% higher than the highest free surface wave. The point at which the limiting criterion is first satisfied moves from the crest for free surface waves to the point half-way between the crest and the trough for Boussinesq waves. The phase speed, momentum, energy and other wave properties are calculated for waves up to the highest using Padé approximants. For free surface waves and waves with air above the interface the maximum value of these properties occurs for waves which are lower than the highest. For Boussinesq waves and waves with the density of the upper fluid onetenth of the density of the lower fluid these properties each increase monotonically with the wave height.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Jozef Komačka ◽  
IIja Březina

Abstract The propagation of waves generated by load impulse of two FWD types was assessed using test outputs in the form of time history data. The calculated travel time of wave between the receiver in the centre of load and others receivers showed the contradiction with the theory as for the receivers up to 600 (900) mm from the centre of load. Therefore, data collected by the sensors positioned at the distance of 1200 and 1500 mm were used. The influence of load magnitude on the waves propagation was investigated via the different load force with approximately the same load time and vice versa. Expectations relating to the travel time of waves, depending on the differences of load impulse, were not met. The shorter travel time of waves was detected in the case of the lower frequencies. The use of load impulse magnitude as a possible explanation was not successful because opposite tendencies in travel time were noticed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 21079-21124 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Koseki ◽  
T.-Y. Koh ◽  
C.-K. Teo

Abstract. We have investigated how the Borneo vortex develops over the equatorial South China Sea under cold surge conditions in December during the Asian winter monsoon. Composite analysis using reanalysis and satellite datasets has revealed that absolute vorticity and water vapour are transported by strong cold surges from upstream of the South China Sea to around the equator. Rainfall is correspondingly enhanced over the equatorial South China Sea. A semi-idealized experiment reproduced the Borneo vortex over the equatorial South China Sea during a "perpetual" cold surge. The Borneo vortex is manifested as a meso-α cyclone with a comma-shaped rainband in the northeast sector of the cyclone. Vorticity budget analysis showed that the growth of the meso-α cyclone was achieved mainly by vortex stretching. The comma-shaped rainband consists of clusters of meso-β scale rainfall patches. The warm and wet cyclonic southeasterly flow meets with the cold and dry northeasterly surge forming a confluence front in the northeastern sector of the cyclone. Intense upward motion and heavy rainfall result both due to the low-level convergence and the favourable thermodynamic profile at the confluence front. At both meso-α and meso-β scales, the convergence is ultimately caused by the deviatoric strain in the confluence wind pattern but is much enhanced by nonlinear self-enhancement dynamics.


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