Nonlinear Wave Hydrodynamics

This paper discusses the potential of deterministic wave prediction as one basic module for decision support of offshore operations. Therefore, methods of different complexity—the linear wave solution, the non-linear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) of two different orders and the high-order spectral method (HOSM)—are presented in terms of applicability and limitations of use. For this purpose, irregular sea states with varying parameters are addressed by numerical simulations as well as model tests in the controlled environment of a seakeeping basin. The irregular sea state investigations focuses on JONSWAP spectra with varying wave steepness and enhancement factor. In addition, the influence of the propagation distance as well as the forecast horizon is discussed. For the evaluation of the accuracy of the prediction, the surface similarity parameter is used, allowing an exact, quantitative validation of the results. Based on the results, the pros and cons of the different deterministic wave prediction methods are discussed. In conclusion, this paper shows that the classical NLSE is not applicable for deterministic wave prediction of arbitrary irregular sea states compared to the linear solution. However, the application of the exact linear dispersion operator within the linear dispersive part of the NLSE increased the accuracy of the prediction for small wave steepness significantly. In addition, it is shown that non-linear deterministic wave prediction based on second-order NLSE as well as HOSM leads to a substantial improvement of the prediction quality for moderate and steep irregular wave trains in terms of individual waves and prediction distance, with the HOSM providing a high accuracy over a wider range of applications. Full article

The influence of a strong and gusty wind field on ocean waves is investigated. How the random wind affects solitary waves is analyzed in order to obtain insights about wave generation by randomly time varying wind forcing. Using the Euler equations of fluid dynamics and the method of multiple scales, a random nonlinear Schrödinger equation and a random modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation are obtained for randomly wind forced nonlinear deep water waves. Miles theory is used for modeling the pressure variation at the wave surface resulting from the wind velocity field. The nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation are computed using a relaxation pseudo spectral scheme. The results show that the influence of gusty wind on solitary waves leads to a randomly increasing ocean wave envelope. However, in a laboratory setup with much smaller wave amplitudes and higher wave frequencies, the influence of water viscosity is much higher. This leads to fluctuating solutions, which are sensitive to wind forcing. Full article

I present an exact and explicit solution to the nonlinear governing equations in the equatorial f-plane, describing geophysical edge waves propagating over a plane-sloping beach, in the presence of underlying uniform currents. I also derive the analytical expressions of geophysical edge wave dynamics and the mass transport velocity. Full article

The coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation (CNLSE) is a wave envelope evolution equation applicable to two crossing, narrow-banded wave systems. Modulational instability (MI), a feature of the nonlinear Schrödinger wave equation, is characterized (to first order) by an exponential growth of sideband components and the formation of distinct wave pulses, often containing extreme waves. Linear stability analysis of the CNLSE shows the effect of crossing angle, $\theta$ , on MI, and reveals instabilities between $0^{\circ }<\theta <{35}^{\circ }$ , ${46}^{\circ }<\theta <{143}^{\circ }$ , and ${145}^{\circ }<\theta <{180}^{\circ }$ . Herein, the modulational stability of crossing wavetrains seeded with symmetrical sidebands is determined experimentally from tests in a circular wave basin. Experiments were carried out at 12 crossing angles between $0^{\circ }\le \theta \le {88}^{\circ }$ , and strong unidirectional sideband growth was observed. This growth reduced significantly at angles beyond $\theta \approx {20}^{\circ }$ , reaching complete stability at $\theta$ = 30–40 ${}^{\circ }$ . We find satisfactory agreement between numerical predictions (using a time-marching CNLSE solver) and experimental measurements for all crossing angles. Full article

The formation mechanism of extreme waves in the coastal areas is still an open contemporary problem in fluid mechanics and ocean engineering. Previous studies have shown that the transition of water depth from a deeper to a shallower zone increases the occurrence probability of large waves. Indeed, more efforts are required to improve the understanding of extreme wave statistics variations in such conditions. To achieve this goal, large scale experiments of unidirectional irregular waves propagating over a variable bottom profile considering different transition water depths were performed. The validation of two highly nonlinear numerical models was performed for one representative case. The collected data were examined and interpreted by using spectral or bispectral analysis as well as statistical analysis. The higher probability of occurrence of large waves was confirmed by the statistical distributions built from the measured free surface elevation time series as well as by the local maximum values of skewness and kurtosis around the end of the slope. Strong second-order nonlinear effects were highlighted as waves propagate into the shallower region. A significant amount of wave energy was transmitted to low-frequency modes. Based on the experimental data, we conclude that the formation of extreme waves is mainly related to the second-order effect, which is also responsible for the generation of long waves. It is shown that higher-order nonlinearities are negligible in these sets of experiments. Several existing models for wave height distributions were compared and analysed. It appears that the generalised Boccotti’s distribution can predict the exceedance of large wave heights with good confidence. Full article

We present the theoretical models and review the most recent results of a class of experiments in the field of surface gravity waves. These experiments serve as demonstration of an analogy to a broad variety of phenomena in optics and quantum mechanics. In particular, experiments involving Airy water-wave packets were carried out. The Airy wave packets have attracted tremendous attention in optics and quantum mechanics owing to their unique properties, spanning from an ability to propagate along parabolic trajectories without spreading, and to accumulating a phase that scales with the cubic power of time. Non-dispersive Cosine-Gauss wave packets and self-similar Hermite-Gauss wave packets, also well known in the field of optics and quantum mechanics, were recently studied using surface gravity waves as well. These wave packets demonstrated self-healing properties in water wave pulses as well, preserving their width despite being dispersive. Finally, this new approach also allows to observe diffractive focusing from a temporal slit with finite width. Full article

Time reversal of free-surface water (gravity) waves due to a sudden change in the effective gravity has been extensively studied in recent years. Here, we show that an analogy to time-reversal can be obtained using nonlinear acoustic-gravity wave theory. More specifically, we present a mathematical model for the evolution of a time-reversed gravity wave packet from a nonlinear resonant triad perspective. We show that the sudden appearance of an acoustic mode in analogy to a sudden vertical oscillation of the liquid film, can resonate effectively with the original gravity wave packet causing energy pumping into an oppositely propagating (time-reversed) surface gravity wave of an almost identical shape. Full article

Amplitude modulation of a propagating wave train has been observed in various media including hydrodynamics and optical fibers. The notable difference of the propagating wave trains in these media is the magnitude of the nonlinearity and the associated spectral bandwidth. The nonlinearity and dispersion parameters of optical fibers are two orders of magnitude smaller than the hydrodynamic counterparts, and therefore, considered to better assure the slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA) of the nonlinear Schrödinger equations (NLSE). While most optics experiment demonstrate an NLSE-like symmetric solutions, experimental studies by Dudley et al. (Optics Express, 2009, 17, 21497–21508) show an asymmetric spectral evolution in the dynamics of unstable electromagnetic waves with high intensities. Motivated by this result, the hydrodynamic Euler equation is numerically solved to study the long-term evolution of a water-wave modulated wave train in the optical regime, i.e., at small steepness and spectral bandwidth. As the initial steepness is increased, retaining the initial spectral bandwidth thereby increasing the Benjamin–Feir Index, the modulation localizes, and the asymmetric and broad spectrum appears. While the deviation of the evolution from the NLSE solution is a result of broadband dynamics of free wave interaction, the resulting asymmetry of the spectrum is a consequence of the violation of the SVEA. Full article

We numerically investigate pairwise collisions of solitary wave structures on the surface of deep water—breathers. These breathers are spatially localised coherent groups of surface gravity waves which propagate so that their envelopes are stable and demonstrate weak oscillations. We perform numerical simulations of breather mutual collisions by using fully nonlinear equations for the potential flow of ideal incompressible fluid with a free surface written in conformal variables. The breather collisions are inelastic. However, the breathers can still propagate as stable localised wave groups after the interaction. To generate initial conditions in the form of separate breathers we use the reduced model—the Zakharov equation. We present an explicit expression for the four-wave interaction coefficient and third order accuracy formulas to recover physical variables in the Zakharov model. The suggested procedure allows the generation of breathers of controlled phase which propagate stably in the fully nonlinear model, demonstrating only minor radiation of incoherent waves. We perform a detailed study of breather collision dynamics depending on their relative phase. In 2018 Kachulin and Gelash predicted new effects of breather interactions using the Dyachenko–Zakharov equation. Here we show that all these effects can be observed in the fully nonlinear model. Namely, we report that the relative phase controls the process of energy exchange between breathers, level of energy loses, and space positions of breathers after the collision. Full article

In this paper, we demonstrate experimentally that by generating two orthogonal standing waves at the liquid surface, one can control the motion of floating microparticles. The mechanism of the vortex generation is somewhat similar to a classical Stokes drift in linear progression waves. By adjusting the relative phase between the waves, it is possible to generate a vortex lattice, seen as a stationary horizontal flow consisting of counter-rotating vortices. Two orthogonal waves which are phase-shifted by $\pi /2$ create locally rotating waves. Such waves induce nested circular drift orbits of the surface fluid particles. Such a configuration allows for the trapping of particles within a cell of the size about half the wavelength of the standing waves. By changing the relative phase, it is possible to either create or to destroy the vortex crystal. This method creates an opportunity to confine surface particles within cells, or to greatly increase mixing of the surface matter over the wave field surface. Full article

I address the problem of breather turbulence in ocean waves from the point of view of the exact spectral solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation using two tools of mathematical physics: (1) the inverse scattering transform (IST) for periodic/quasiperiodic boundary conditions (also referred to as finite gap theory (FGT) in the Russian literature) and (2) quasiperiodic Fourier series, both of which enhance the physical and mathematical understanding of complicated nonlinear phenomena in water waves. The basic approach I refer to is nonlinear Fourier analysis (NLFA). The formulation describes wave motion with spectral components consisting of sine waves, Stokes waves and breather packets that nonlinearly interact pair-wise with one another. This contrasts to the simpler picture of standard Fourier analysis in which one linearly superposes sine waves. Breather trains are coherent wave packets that “breath” up and down during their lifetime “cycle” as they propagate, a phenomenon related to Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) recurrence. The central wave of a breather, when the packet is at its maximum height of the FPU cycle, is often treated as a kind of rogue wave. Breather turbulence occurs when the number of breathers in a measured time series is large, typically several hundred per hour. Because of the prevalence of rogue waves in breather turbulence, I call this exceptional type of sea state a breather sea or rogue sea. Here I provide theoretical tools for a physical and dynamical understanding of the recent results of Osborne et al. (Ocean Dynamics, 2019, 69, pp. 187–219) in which dense breather turbulence was found in experimental surface wave data in Currituck Sound, North Carolina. Quasiperiodic Fourier series are important in the study of ocean waves because they provide a simpler theoretical interpretation and faster numerical implementation of the NLFA, with respect to the IST, particularly with regard to determination of the breather spectrum and their associated phases that are here treated in the so-called nonlinear random phase approximation. The actual material developed here focuses on results necessary for the analysis and interpretation of shipboard/offshore platform radar scans and for airborne lidar and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements. Full article

The issue of rogue wave lifetimes is addressed in this study, which helps to detail the general picture of this dangerous oceanic phenomenon. The direct numerical simulations of irregular wave ensembles are performed to obtain the complete accurate data on the rogue wave occurrence and evolution. Purely collinear wave systems, moderately crested, and short-crested sea states have been simulated by means of the high-order spectral method for the potential Euler equations. As rogue waves are transient and poorly reflect the physical effects, we join instant abnormally high waves in close locations and close time moments to new objects, rogue events, which helps to retrieve the abnormal occurrences more stably and more consistently from the physical point of view. The rogue event lifetime probability distributions are calculated based on the simulated wave data. They show the distinctive difference between rough sea states with small directional bandwidth on one part, and small-amplitude sea states and short-crested states on the other part. The former support long-living rogue wave patterns (the corresponding probability distributions have heavy tails), though the latter possess exponential probability distributions of rogue event lifetimes and generally produce much shorter rogue wave events. Full article

Wave breaking is the most characteristic feature of the ocean surface. Physical investigations (in the field and at laboratory scale) and numerical simulations have studied the driving mechanisms that lead to wave breaking and its effects on hydrodynamic loads on marine structures. Despite computational advances, accurate numerical simulations of the complex breaking process remain challenging. Validation of numerical codes is routinely performed against experimental observations of the surface elevation. However, it is still uncertain whether simulations can accurately reproduce the velocity field under breaking waves due to the lack of ad-hoc measurements. In the present work, the velocity field recorded with a Particle Image Velocimetry method during experiments conducted in a unidirectional wave tank is directly compared to the results of a corresponding numerical simulation performed with a Navier–Stokes (NS) solver. It is found that simulations underpredict the velocity close to the wave crest compared to measurements. Higher resolutions seem necessary in order to capture the most relevant details of the flow. Full article

We suggest that there exists a natural bandwidth of wave trains, including trains of wind-generated waves with a continuous spectrum, determined by their steepness. Based on laboratory experiments with monochromatic waves, we show that, if no side-band perturbations are imposed, the ratio between the wave steepness and bandwidth is restricted to certain limits. These limits are consistent with field observations of narrow-banded wind-wave spectra if a characteristic width of the spectral peak and average steepness are used. The role of the wind in such modulation is also discussed. Full article

A novel coupled-mode model is developed for the wave–current–seabed interaction problem, with application in wave scattering by non-homogeneous, sheared currents over general bottom topography. The formulation is based on a velocity representation defined by a series of local vertical modes containing the propagating and evanescent modes, able to accurately treat the continuity condition and the bottom boundary condition on sloping parts of the seabed. Using the above representation in Euler equations, a coupled system of differential equations on the horizontal plane is derived, with respect to the unknown horizontal velocity modal amplitudes. In the case of small-amplitude waves, a linearized version of the above coupled-mode system is obtained, and the dispersion characteristics are studied for various interesting cases of wave–seabed–current interaction. Keeping only the propagating mode in the vertical expansion of the wave potential, the present system is reduced to a one-equation, non-linear model, generalizing Boussinesq models. The analytical structure of the present coupled-mode system facilitates extensions to treat non-linear effects and further applications concerning wave scattering by inhomogeneous currents in coastal regions with general 3D bottom topography. Full article

Recently, the Whitham and capillary Whitham equations were shown to accurately model the evolution of surface waves on shallow water. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these equations, we compute periodic, traveling-wave solutions for both and study their stability. We present plots of a representative sampling of solutions for a range of wavelengths, wave speeds, wave heights, and surface tension values. Finally, we discuss the role these parameters play in the stability of these solutions. Full article

The formation of rogue oceanic waves may be the result of different causes. Various factors (winds, currents, dispersive focussing, depth, nonlinear focussing and instability) make this subject intriguing, and yet its understanding is quite relevant to practical issues. Here, we deal only with the nonlinear character of this dynamics, which has been recognised as the main ingredient to rogue wave formation. In this perspective, the formation of rogue waves requires a non-vanishing and unstable background such as a nonlinear regular wave train with attractive self-interaction. The simplest, best known model of such dynamics is the universal nonlinear Schrödinger equation. This has proven to serve as a good approximation in various contexts and over a broad range of experimental settings. This model aims to give the slow evolution of the envelope of one monochromatic wave due to nonlinearity. Here, we naturally consider the same problem for the envelopes of two weakly resonant monochromatic waves. As for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which is integrable, we adopt an integrable model to describe the interaction of two waves. This is the system of two coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations (Manakov model) with self- and cross-interactions that may be both defocussing and focussing. We first discuss the linear stability properties of the background by computing the spectrum for all values of the parameters such as coupling constants and amplitudes. In particular, we relate the instability bands to properties of the spectrum and compute the gain function (or growth rate). We also relate to the stability spectrum the value of the spectral variable, which corresponds to a rogue wave solution. In contrast with the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, different types of single rogue wave exist that correspond to different values of the spectral variable even in the same spectrum. For these critical values, which are completely classified, we give the corresponding explicit expression of the rogue wave solution that follows from the well known Darboux–Dressing transformation method. Although not all systems of two coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations that have been derived in water wave dynamics are integrable, our investigation contributes to the understanding of new effects due to wave coupling, at least for model equations that, even if not integrable, are close enough to the model considered here. For instance, our findings lead to investigate rogue waves generated by instabilities due to self- and cross-interactions of defocusing type. An illustrative selection of two coupled rogue waves solutions is displayed. Full article

We consider the dynamics of internal envelope solitons in a two-layer rotating fluid with a linearly varying bottom. It is shown that the most probable frequency of a carrier wave which constitutes the solitary wave is the frequency where the growth rate of modulation instability is maximal. An envelope solitary wave of this frequency can be described by the conventional nonlinear Schrödinger equation. A soliton solution to this equation is presented for the time-like version of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. When such an envelope soliton enters a coastal zone where the bottom gradually linearly increases, then it experiences an adiabatical transformation. This leads to an increase in soliton amplitude, velocity, and period of a carrier wave, whereas its duration decreases. It is shown that the soliton becomes taller and narrower. At some distance it looks like a breather, a narrow non-stationary solitary wave. The dependences of the soliton parameters on the distance when it moves towards the shoaling are found from the conservation laws and analysed graphically. Estimates for the real ocean are presented. Full article

We study the horizontal dispersion of passive tracer particles on the free surface of gravity waves in deep water. For random linear waves with the JONSWAP spectrum, the Lagrangian particle trajectories are computed using an exact nonlinear model known as the John–Sclavounos equation. We show that the single-particle dispersion exhibits an unusual super-diffusive behavior. In particular, for large times t, the variance of the tracer $⟨|X(t){|}^2⟩$ increases as a quadratic function of time, i.e., ${⟨\left|X(t)\right|}^2⟩\sim t^2$ . This dispersion is markedly faster than Taylor’s single-particle dispersion theory which predicts that the variance of passive tracers grows linearly with time for large t. Our results imply that the wave motion significantly enhances the dispersion of fluid particles. We show that this super-diffusive behavior is a result of the long-term correlation of the Lagrangian velocities of fluid parcels on the free surface. Full article

Our present study is devoted to the constructive study of the modulational instability for the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV)-family of equations $u_t+s{u}^p{u}_x+u_{xxx}$ (here $s=\pm 1$ and $p>0$ is an arbitrary integer). For deducing the conditions of the instability, we first computed the nonlinear corrections to the frequency of the Stokes wave and then explored the coefficients of the corresponding modified nonlinear Schrödinger equations, thus deducing explicit expressions for the instability growth rate, maximum of the increment and the boundaries of the instability interval. A brief discussion of the results, open questions and further research directions completes the paper. Full article

The waves on a free surface of 2D deep water can be split into two groups: the waves moving to the right, and the waves moving to the left. A specific feature of the four-wave interactions of water waves allows to describe the evolution of the two groups as a system of two equations. The fundamental consequence of this decomposition is the conservation of the “number of waves” in each particular group. The envelope approximation for the waves in each group of counter streaming waves is obtained. Full article

The linear stability theory of wind-wave generation is revisited with an emphasis on the generation of wave groups. The outcome is the fundamental requirement that the group move with a real-valued group velocity. This implies that both the wave frequency and the wavenumber should be complex-valued, and in turn this then leads to a growth rate in the reference frame moving with the group velocity which is in general different from the temporal growth rate. In the weakly nonlinear regime, the amplitude envelope of the wave group is governed by a forced nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The effect of the wind forcing term is to enhance modulation instability both in terms of the wave growth and in terms of the domain of instability in the modulation wavenumber space. Also, the soliton solution for the wave envelope grows in amplitude at twice the linear growth rate. Full article

This article is concerned with the non-linear interaction of homogeneous random ocean surface waves. Under this umbrella, numerous kinetic equations have been derived to study the evolution of the spectral action density, each employing slightly different assumptions. Using analytical and numerical tools, and providing exact formulas, we demonstrate that the recently derived generalized kinetic equation exhibits blow up in finite time for certain degenerate quartets of waves. This is discussed in light of the assumptions made in the derivation, and this equation is contrasted with other kinetic equations for the spectral action density. Full article