On short-crested waves: experimental and analytical investigations

• Published in: European journal of mechanics, B, Fluids Vol. 18; no. 5; pp. 889 - 930
• Main Authors: Kimmoun, O., Branger, H., Kharif, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier Masson SAS 1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Equations of motion; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluid mechanics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Gravity waves; Hydrodynamic waves; Mechanics; Ocean, Atmosphere; Oceanography; Perturbation techniques; Physics; Sciences of the Universe; Surface waves; Data analysis; Capillary waves; Surface waves; Fluid wave; Deep water; Experimental study; Shallow water; Analytical solution; Gravity waves; Wave reflection; Short-crested wave
• ISSN: 0997-7546; 1873-7390
• DOI: 10.1016/S0997-7546(99)00124-7

Analytical and experimental investigations were conducted on short-crested wave fields generated by a sea-wall reflection of an incident plane wave. A perturbation method was used to compute analytically the solution of the basic equations up to the sixth order for capillary-gravity waves in finite depth, and up to the ninth order for gravity waves in deep water. For the experiments, we developed a new video-optical tool to measure the full three dimensional wave field η( x, y, t). A good agreement was found between theory and experiments. The spatio-temporal bi-orthogonal decomposition technique was used to exhibit the periodic and progressive properties of the short-crested wave field.