scholarly journals On kinematics of very steep waves

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1487-1506
Author(s):  
L. Shemer

Abstract. Experiments on extremely steep waves generated in a large wave tank by focusing of a broad-banded wave train serve as a motivation for the theoretical analysis of the conditions leading to wave breaking. Particular attention is given to the crest of the steepest wave where both the horizontal velocity and the vertical acceleration attain their maxima. Analysis is carried out up to the 3rd order in wave steepness. The apparent, Eulerian and Lagrangian accelerations are computed for wave parameters observed in experiments. It is demonstrated that for a wave group with a wide spectrum, the crest propagation velocity differs significantly from both the phase and the group velocities of the peak wave. Conclusions are drawn regarding the applicability of various criteria for wave breaking.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2101-2107 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Shemer

Abstract. Experiments on extremely steep deterministic waves generated in a large wave tank by focusing of a broad-banded wave train serve as a motivation for the theoretical analysis of the conditions leading to wave breaking. Particular attention is given to the crest of the steepest wave where both the horizontal velocity and the vertical acceleration attain their maxima. Analysis is carried out up to the third order in wave steepness. The apparent, Eulerian and Lagrangian accelerations are computed for wave parameters observed in experiments. It is demonstrated that for a wave group with a wide spectrum, the crest propagation velocity differs significantly from both the phase and the group velocities of the peak wave. Conclusions are drawn regarding the applicability of various criteria for wave breaking.


Author(s):  
Yana Saprykina ◽  
Olga Kuznetsova

On the base of field experimental data were confirmed that the main wave parameters for cross-shore sediment transport are the significant wave height, spectral peak period and wave steepness. Waves with narrowband spectrum more effect on changes of underwater profile. For a qualitative assessment of erosion/accumulation the Dean parameter, the Ursell and Iribarren numbers can be used. However the physical processes of wave transformation play an important role. The most significant are nonlinear wave transformation and wave breaking, especially the type of wave breaking.


Author(s):  
Zhigang Tian

Wave impact on offshore structures has been the focus of several studies, due to its significant effect on offshore operations. We evaluate several parameters (wave impact indicators) which can be adopted to indicate the possibility of wave impact on offshore structures due to extreme waves. The indicators can be estimated quickly with given sea states, and thus may provide useful information to offshore structure designers at early design phases. Definitions of three wave impact indicators are presented and discussed. The first indicator, Ψ, is proposed by Stansberg (2008). The second one considered is a wave breaking parameter, μ, originally presented by Song and Banner (2002) in their construction of a wave breaking criterion. Finally, we propose a more generalized impact indicator, βn. The subscript n indicates its dependence on local wave steepness. Our study demonstrates that the three indicators are analytically related. To evaluate these indicators numerically, 2nd order random surface waves are generated with random phase method and Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform (2D FFT). Hilbert analysis of the wave signal reveals that all indicators are able to identify steep and energetic waves that may potentially cause large wave impact loads. Further numerical study demonstrates that the quantitative correlation of wave impact loads to μ is less promising than that to Ψ and βn; while βn provides the best relationship to both local wave impact load and global wave load with its dependence on local wave steepness adjusted (i.e. adjusting n). The correlation is independent of sea states. Estimations and recommendations for thresholds of the two impact indicators (i.e. Ψ and βn with n = 1) are made based on model test results. With proper estimation of the thresholds, both indicators can be applied to predict wave impact and wave impact probability in given sea states.


2002 ◽  
Vol 466 ◽  
pp. 305-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL S. LONGUET-HIGGINS ◽  
DAVID A. DRAZEN

Theoretical arguments suggest that progressive gravity waves incident on a vertical wall can produce periodic standing waves only if the incident wave steepness ak is quite small, certainly less than 0.284. Laboratory experiments are carried out in which an incident wave train of almost uniform amplitude meets a vertical barrier. At wave steepnesses greater than 0.236 the resulting motion near the barrier is non-periodic. A growing instability is observed in which every third wave crest is steeper than its neighbours. The steep waves develop sharp crests, or vertical jets. The two neighbouring crests are rounded, at-topped, or of intermediate form. The instability grows by a factor of about 2.2 for every three wave periods, almost independently of the incident wave steepness.


Author(s):  
Hwung-Hweng Hwung ◽  
Wen-Son Chiang ◽  
Shih-Chun Hsiao

A series of laboratory experiments on the long-time evolution of nonlinear wave trains in deep water was carried out in a super wave flume (300×5.0×5.2 m) at Tainan Hydraulics Laboratory of National Cheng Kung University. Two typical wave trains, namely uniform wave and imposed sideband wave, were generated by a piston-type wavemaker. Detailed discussions on the evolution of modulated wave trains, such as transient wavefront, fastest growth mode and initial wave steepness effect, are given and the results are compared with existing experimental data and theoretical predictions. Present results on the evolution of initial uniform wave trains cover a wide range of initial wave steepness ( ) and thus, greatly extend earlier studies that are confined only to the larger initial wave steepness region ( ). The amplitudes of the fastest growth sidebands exhibit a symmetric exponential growth until the onset of wave breaking. At a further stage, the amplitude of lower sideband becomes larger than the carrier wave and upper sideband after wave breaking, which is known as the frequency downshift. The investigations on the evolution of initial imposed sideband wave trains for fixed initial wave steepness but different sideband space indicate that the most unstable mode of initial wave train will manifest itself during evolution through a multiple downshift of wave spectrum for the wave train with the smaller sideband space. It reveals that the spectrum energy tends to shift to a lower frequency as the wave train propagates downstream due to the sideband instability. Experiments on initial imposed sideband wave trains with varied initial wave steepness illustrate that the evolution of the wave train is a periodic modulation and demodulation at post-breaking stages, in which most of the energy of the wave train is transferred cyclically between the carrier wave and two imposed sidebands. Meanwhile, the wave spectra show both temporal and permanent frequency downshift for different initial wave steepness, suggesting that the permanent frequency downshift induced by wave breaking observed by earlier researchers is not permanent. Additionally, the local wave steepness and the ratio of horizontal particle velocity to linear phase velocity at wave breaking in modulated wave group are very different from those of Stokes theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3618
Author(s):  
Stanislav Ermakov ◽  
Vladimir Dobrokhotov ◽  
Irina Sergievskaya ◽  
Ivan Kapustin

The role of wave breaking in microwave backscattering from the sea surface is a problem of great importance for the development of theories and methods on ocean remote sensing, in particular for oil spill remote sensing. Recently it has been shown that microwave radar return is determined by both Bragg and non-Bragg (non-polarized) scattering mechanisms and some evidence has been given that the latter is associated with wave breaking, in particular, with strong breaking such as spilling or plunging. However, our understanding of mechanisms of the action of strong wave breaking on small-scale wind waves (ripples) and thus on the radar return is still insufficient. In this paper an effect of suppression of radar backscattering after strong wave breaking has been revealed experimentally and has been attributed to the wind ripple suppression due to turbulence generated by strong wave breaking. The experiments were carried out in a wind wave tank where a frequency modulated wave train of intense meter-decimeter-scale surface waves was generated by a mechanical wave maker. The wave train was compressed according to the gravity wave dispersion relation (“dispersive focusing”) into a short-wave packet at a given distance from the wave maker. Strong wave breaking with wave crest overturning (spilling) occurred for one or two highest waves in the packet. Short decimeter-centimeter-scale wind waves were generated at gentle winds, simultaneously with the long breaking waves. A Ka-band scatterometer was used to study microwave backscattering from the surface waves in the tank. The scatterometer looking at the area of wave breaking was mounted over the tank at a height of about 1 m above the mean water level, the incidence angle of the microwave radiation was about 50 degrees. It has been obtained that the radar return in the presence of short wind waves is characterized by the radar Doppler spectrum with a peak roughly centered in the vicinity of Bragg wave frequencies. The radar return was strongly enhanced in a wide frequency range of the radar Doppler spectrum when a packet of long breaking waves arrived at the area irradiated by the radar. After the passage of breaking waves, the radar return strongly dropped and then slowly recovered to the initial level. Measurements of velocities in the upper water layer have confirmed that the attenuation of radar backscattering after wave breaking is due to suppression of short wind waves by turbulence generated in the breaking zone. A physical analysis of the effect has been presented.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Kandaurov ◽  
Yuliya Troitskaya ◽  
Vasiliy Kazakov ◽  
Daniil Sergeev

<p>Whitecap coverage were retrieved from high-speed video recordings of the water surface obtained on the unique laboratory faculty The Large Thermostratified Test Tank with wind-wave channel (cross-section from 0.7×0.7 to 0.7×0.9 m<sup>2</sup> at the end, 12 m fetch, wind velocity up to 35 m/s, U<sub>10</sub> up to 65 m/s). The wind wave was induced using a wave generator installed at the beginning of the channel (a submerged horizontal plate, frequency 1.042 Hz, amplitude 93 mm) working in a pulsed operation (three periods). Wave breaking was induced in working area by a submerged plate (1.2×0.7 m<sup>2</sup>, up to 12 depth, AOA -11,7°). Experiments were carried out for equivalent wind velocities U<sub>10</sub> from 17.8 to 40.1 m/s. Wire wave gauge was used to control the shape and phase of the incident wave.</p><p>To obtain the surface area occupied by wave breaking, we used two Cygnet CY2MP-CL-SN cameras with 50 mm lenses. The cameras are installed above the channel at a height of 273 cm from the water surface, separated by 89 cm. The image scale was 302 μm/px, the size of the image obtained from each camera is 2048x1088 px<sup>2</sup>, which corresponds to 619x328 mm<sup>2</sup> (the long side of the frame along the channel). The shooting was carried out with a frequency of 50 Hz, an exposure time of 3 ms, 250 frames were recorded for each wave train. To illuminate the image areas to the side of the measurement area, a diffuse screen was placed on the side wall, which was illuminated by powerful LED lamps to create a uniform illumination source covering the entire side wall of the section.</p><p>Using specially developed software for automatic detection of areas of wave breaking, the values of the whitecap coverage area were obtained. Automatic image processing was performed using morphological analysis in combination with manual processing of part of the frames for tweaking the algorithm parameters: for each mode, manual processing of several frames was performed, based on the results of which automatic algorithm parameters were selected to ensure that the resulting whitecap coverage corresponded. Comparison of images obtained from different angles made it possible to detect and exclude areas of glare on the surface from the whitecap coverage.</p><p>The repeatability of the created wave breakings allows carrying out independent measurements for the same conditions, for example the parameters of spray generation will give estimations of the average number of fragmentation events per unit area of the wave breaking area.</p><p>The work was supported by the RFBR grants 21-55-50005 and 20-05-00322 (conducting an experiment), President grant for young scientists МК-5503.2021.1.5 (software development) and the RSF grant No. 19-17-00209 (data processing).</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jithin Jose ◽  
Olga Podrażka ◽  
Ove Tobias Gudmestad ◽  
Witold Cieślikiewicz

Wave breaking is one of the major concerns for offshore structures installed in shallow waters. Impulsive breaking wave forces sometimes govern the design of such structures, particularly in areas with a sloping sea bottom. Most of the existing offshore wind turbines were installed in shallow water regions. Among fixed-type support structures for offshore wind turbines, jacket structures have become popular in recent times as the water depth for fixed offshore wind structures increases. However, there are many uncertainties in estimating breaking wave forces on a jacket structure, as only a limited number of past studies have estimated these forces. Present study is based on the WaveSlam experiment carried out in 2013, in which a jacket structure of 1:8 scale was tested for several breaking wave conditions. The total and local wave slamming forces are obtained from the experimental measured forces, using two different filtering methods. The total wave slamming forces are filtered from the measured forces using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method, and local slamming forces are obtained by the frequency response function (FRF) method. From these results, the peak slamming forces and slamming coefficients on the jacket members are estimated. The breaking wave forces are found to be dependent on various breaking wave parameters such as breaking wave height, wave period, wave front asymmetry, and wave-breaking positions. These wave parameters are estimated from the wave gauge measurements taken during the experiment. The dependency of the wave slamming forces on these estimated wave parameters is also investigated.


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