scholarly journals Storm Waves at the Shoreline: When and Where Are Infragravity Waves Important?

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Billson ◽  
Paul Russell ◽  
Mark Davidson

Infragravity waves (frequency, f = 0.005–0.05 Hz) are known to dominate hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes close to the shoreline on low-sloping sandy beaches, especially when incident waves are large. However, in storm wave conditions, how their importance varies on different beach types, and with different mixes of swell and wind-waves is largely unknown. Here, a new dataset, comprising shoreline video observations from five contrasting sites (one low-sloping sandy beach, two steep gravel beaches, and two compound/mixed sand and gravel beaches), under storm wave conditions (deep water wave height, H0 up to 6.6 m, and peak period, Tp up to 18.2 s), was used to assess: how the importance and dominance of infragravity waves varies at the shoreline? In this previously unstudied combination of wave and morphological conditions, significant infragravity swash heights (Sig) at the shoreline in excess of 0.5 m were consistently observed on all five contrasting beaches. The largest infragravity swash heights were observed on a steep gravel beach, followed by the low-sloping sandy beach, and lowest on the compound/mixed sites. Due to contrasting short wave breaking and dissipation processes, infragravity frequencies were observed to be most dominant over gravity frequencies on the low-sloping sandy beach, occasionally dominant on the gravel beaches, and rarely dominant on the compound/mixed beaches. Existing empirical predictive relationships were shown to parameterize Sig skillfully on the sand and gravel beaches separately. Deep water wave power was found to accurately predict Sig on both the sand and gravel beaches, demonstrating that, under storm wave conditions, the wave heights and periods are the main drivers of infragravity oscillations at the shoreline, with the beach morphology playing a secondary role. The exception to this was the compound/mixed beach sites where shoreline infragravity energy remained low.

2021 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhu Li ◽  
David R. Fuhrman

Abstract Instabilities of deep-water wave trains subject to initially small perturbations (which then grow exponentially) can lead to extreme waves in offshore regions. The present study focuses on the two-dimensional Benjamin–Feir (or modulational) instability and the three-dimensional crescent (or horseshoe) waves, also known as Class I and Class II instabilities, respectively. Numerical studies on Class I and Class II wave instabilities to date have been mostly limited to models founded on potential flow theory; thus, they could only properly investigate the process from initial growth of the perturbations to the initial breaking point. The present study conducts numerical simulations to investigate the generation and development of wave instabilities involving the wave breaking process. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model solving Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with a turbulence closure model in terms of the Reynolds stress model is applied. Wave form evolutions, Fourier amplitudes, and the turbulence beneath the broken waves are investigated.


Author(s):  
Yuxiang Ma ◽  
Guohai Dong ◽  
Xiaozhou Ma

New experimental data for the evolution of deep-water wave packets has been presented. The present experimental data shows that the local maximum steepness for extreme waves is significantly above the criterion of the limiting Stokes waves. The wavelet spectra of the wave groups around the breaking locations indicate that the energy of higher harmonics can be generated quickly before wave breaking and mainly concentrate at the part of the wave fronts. After wave breaking, however, these higher harmonics energy is dissipated immediately. Furthermore, the variations of local peak frequency have also been examined. It is found that frequency downshift increases with the increase of initial steepness and wave packet size.


Water Waves ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Magnani ◽  
M. Onorato ◽  
D. Gunn ◽  
M. Rudman ◽  
B. Kibler ◽  
...  

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