Statistical characteristics of individual waves in laboratory wind waves

On the basis of data on the statistical characteristics of individual waves in laboratory wind waves reported in part I of this series, a self-consistent similarity regime is found to exist among properties of the individual waves, such as the nondimensional frequency, the wave number, the phase speed, and the steepness. Also, it is shown that forms of past empirical formulas for the development of the peak wave can be derived starting from the 3/2-power law, as an extension of the persent laboratory experimental data. In the derivation, only values of the coefficient of the 3/2-power law, and the fraction of momentum transferred from the wind retained by the wind waves, remain on an empirical basis.     

Turbulent structure in water under laboratory wind waves

The structure of the turbulent boundary layer underneath laboratory wind waves was studied by using a combination of a high-sensitivity thermometer array with a two-component sonic flowmeter. The temperature fluctuations are used to detect movements of water parcels, with temperature as a passive quantity. The turbulence energy was dominant in the frequency range (0.01 0.1 Hz), which was much smaller than the wind-wave frequency (2 5 Hz), and in which the turbulence was anisotropic. There was a frequency range (0.2 2 Hz for velocity, 0.2 5 Hz for temperature fluctuation) where the turbulence was isotropic and had a –5/3 slope in the energy spectrum. These points are the same as those in previous works. However, by analyses of the time series by using a variable-interval time-averaging technique (VITA), it has been found that conspicuous events in this main turbulence energy band are the downward bursting from the vicinity of the water surface. Thus the structure of the water layer underneath the wind waves has characters which are similar to the familiar turbulent boundary layer over a rough solid wall, as already conceived. It has been found that, at the same time, the turbulence energy can be related to quantities of the wind waves (the root mean squared water level fluctuation and the wave peak frequency), for different wind and wave conditions. That is, the turbulence underneath the wind waves develops under a close coupling with the wind waves.     

Duality of turbulence and wave in wind waves

The three-seconds power law for wind waves of simple spectra, already derived byToba (1972 and 1973), may also be derived by introducing surface-wave properties into the form of the rate of energy dissipation in the theory of turbulence. The universal constantB, which was formerly determined empirically as 0.062 is here obtained asB=(2)^–3/2=0.0635. Thus wind waves have the duality of turbulence and wave.     

Climatic spectra of wind waves including extreme situations

The results of the hindcasting of wave fields based on spectral models are the database for the climatic spectra calculation. The calculations were performed for each synoptic term over a time interval exceeding 40 years. We developed a procedure for the classification the wave spectra in different seas. It is possible to present the whole variety of the spectral structure of waves as five classes of frequency-directional (two-dimensional) spectra. We calculated the probabilities of the occurrence, of these classes (i.e., the climatic spectra) in different seas. We present estimates of the spectra of different classes for the White and Bering seas that are possible with return periods 1 and 100 years.     

Theoretical wind wave frequency spectra in shallow water

The method developed by Wen et al. (1988 a) for deriving theoretical wind wave frequency spectrum in deep water is extended to the case of water of finite depth, in which a parameter η=H/d is introduced, where H and d represent the average wave height and water depth respectively. The derived spectra reduce to those in deep water when η=0. The case of η=1/2 corresponds to waves impending to break because of the effect of the bottom. Simplified forms of spectra are given. The theoretical results agree with the observed spectra well.     

Statistical characteristics of long waves nearshore

The random long wave runup on a beach of constant slope is studied in the framework of the rigorous solutions of the nonlinear shallow water theory. These solutions are used for calculation of the statistical characteristics of the vertical displacement of the moving shoreline and its horizontal velocity. It is shown that probability characteristics of the runup heights and extreme values of the shoreline velocity coincide in the linear and nonlinear theory. If the incident wave is represented by a narrow-band Gaussian process, the runup height is described by a Rayleigh distribution. The significant runup height can also be found within the linear theory of long wave shoaling and runup. Wave nonlinearity nearshore does not affect the Gaussian probability distribution of the velocity of the moving shoreline. However the vertical displacement of the moving shoreline becomes non-Gaussian due to the wave nonlinearity. Its statistical moments are calculated analytically. It is shown that the mean water level increases (setup), the skewness is always positive and kurtosis is positive for weak amplitude waves and negative for strongly nonlinear waves. The probability of the wave breaking is also calculated and conditions of validity of the analytical theory are discussed. The spectral and statistical characteristics of the moving shoreline are studied in detail. It is shown that the probability of coastal floods grows with an increase in the nonlinearity. Randomness of the wave field nearshore leads to an increase in the wave spectrum width.     

波群内单个波的波陡分布与波破碎

对波群内单个波的波陡分布和波破碎进行了实验研究。研究结果是,波群中波动的最大振幅出现在波群前部而不是出现在波群中央,这种不对称性导致波群前部单个波出现大波陡的概率大于后部单个波出现大波陡的概率;进一步的波破碎统计发现波群前部单个波破碎的频率是后部单个波破碎频率的4倍。因此认为,波群结构的不对称性能够导致单个波发生破碎的...     

实验室长波引起的风浪低频频移

利用实验室波浪水槽观测规则长波对风浪的影响。谱分析显示,较之纯风浪谱,除已被广泛关注的长波抑制风浪这一现象外,当长波波陡较小,且频率远离风浪峰频时,长波还使得风浪谱向低频移动。利用Longuet-HigginsStewart(1960)理论,并考虑到风浪破碎的约束,计算了规则长波的存在对风浪谱的影响,发现可以较好地解释这一现象。表明当长波波陡小且频率远离风浪峰频时,长波对短波的二阶调制及其引起的破碎加强可能是长波影响风浪的主要机制。     

Detection of nonlinear waves and their contribution to ocean wave spectra Part I: Theoretical consideration

This is a Part I of a paper of nonlinearities of wind waves in the deep open ocean. First, considerations are given in order to verify the theoretical expression for bound waves from observed data. We compare the contribution of bound waves and double Bragg scattering to the second-order scattering, and we show that the contribution of bound waves is larger, and that bound waves can be detected by measuring the Doppler spectra of HF (high-frequency) radio wave scattering from the sea surface. Moreover, if the theory of the HF radio wave scattering from the sea surface is verified, so is the second-order perturbation theory for bound waves. Then, the contributions of bound waves to ocean wave spectra are investigated on the basis of the nonlinear theory. The bound waves are shown to modify frequency spectra and wave directional distributions at higher frequencies, and it is shown that although the modifications of frequency spectra are smaller for a two-dimensional field case than for a one-dimensional field case, they are not negligible at higher frequencies. On the other hand, the modifications of wave directional distributions are shown to be significant at higher frequencies. These discussions become significant only when bound wave predictions are verified in the open ocean. Consequently, it is shown that nonlinearities of water waves are important in considering both radio wave scattering from the sea surface and the detailed structures of ocean wave spectra at high frequencies.     

Internal flow structure of short wind waves

For wind waves generated in a wind-wave tunnel, the surface pressure and also the pressure distribution along the internal streamlines were calculated from the measured internal velocity field. In distinct waves, with wave height comparable with or larger than the mean, the surface pressure is found to vary drastically in a narrow region around the crest, showing a dominant minimum near the crest. On the other hand, the pressure distribution along the streamline shows systematic variations that are nearly in phase with the streamline profile. It is shown that the occurrence of the pressure in phase with the streamline profile is linked with the internal vorticity distribution, especially with the presence of a high vorticity region below the crest described in Part I of this study. As a result of the occurrence of such pressure variations, the dispersion relation is modified by about 10% from that for linear irrotational waves. It is argued from the present measurements that the dispersion relation and also the energy transfer from wind into wind waves are strongly affected by the internal vortical structure so that the assumption of irrotational gravity waves cannot be applied to the wind waves being studied.     

Internal flow structure of short wind waves

The internal flow structure of wind waves in a wind-wave tunnel was investigated on the bases of the measured vorticity distributions, streamline patterns, internal pressure fields, and stress distributions at the water surface for some waves in the field. In part I the experimental method and the internal vorticity structure relative to the individual wave crests are described. The measured vorticity distributions of distinct waves (waves with waveheight comparable with or larger than that of significant wavesH _1/3) in the field indicate that the surface vorticity layer is extraordinarily thickened near the crest, and the vorticity near the water surface shows a particularly large value below the crest. The flow near the crest of distinct waves is found to be in excess of the phase speed in a very thin surface layer, and the tangential stress distribution has a dominant peak near the crest. It is argued that the occurrence of the region of high vorticity in distinct waves is associated with the local generation of vorticity near the crest by tangential stress which attains a peak, under the presence of excess flow.     

Internal flow structure of short wind waves

Characteristic features of the internal flow field of short wind waves are described mainly on the basis of streamline patterns measured for four different cases of individual wave. In some waves a distinct high vorticity region, with flow in excess of the phase speed in the surface thin layer, is formed near the crest as shown in Part I of this study, but the streamlines are found to remain quite regular even very near the water surface. The characteristics of flow in the high vorticity region are investigated, and it is argued that the high vorticity region is not supported steadily in individual waves but that growth and attenuation in individual waves repeats systematically, without no severe wave breaking. Below the surface vorticity layer a quite regular wave motion dominates. However, this wave motion is strongly affected by the presence of the high vorticity region. By comparing the measured streamline profiles with those predicted from wave profiles by the use of a water-wave theory, it is found that the flow of the wind waves studied cannot be predicted, even approximately, from the surface displacements, in contrast to the case of pure irrotational water waves.     

Internal flow structure of short wind waves

The minimum value of wind stress under which the flow velocity in short wind waves exceeds the phase speed is estimated by calculating the laminar boundary layer flow induced by the surface tangential stress with a dominant peak at the wave crest as observed in previous experiments. The minimum value of the wind stress is found to depend strongly on, the ratio of the flow velocity just below the boundary layer and the phase speed, but weakly onL, the wavelength. For wind waves previously studied (=0.5,L=10 cm), the excess flow appears when the air friction velocityu _* is larger than about 30 cm sec^–1. The present results confirm that the excess flow found in my previous experiments is associated with the local growth of a laminar boundary layer flow near the wave crest.     

Nonlinear properties of laboratory wind waves at energy containing frequencies

Nonlinear properties of wind waves in a wind-wave tunnel are investigated by measuring the probability density distribution of surface elevation. The surface elevation distribution of raw records are found to have a positive skewness (K ₃=0.21 to 0.43) and a negative kurtosis (K ₄=–0.74 to –0.41) with magnitude depending of fetch and wind speed. The values of skewness are in qualitative agreement with a prediction of the weak interaction theory for a random wave field incorporating the effects of second harmonics (Tayfun, 1980), but the values of kurtosis are different in sign from the prediction.To examine the nonlinear properties of energy containing components, higher harmonic components are excluded from the wave records by using a kind of a band-pass filter. The surface elevation distributions of the filtered waves show a sharp decrease in skewness , but the distributions remain highly non-Gaussian with a large negative kurtosis almost independent of the fetch and wind speed . It is concluded that the negative kurtosis is due to the non-random character of the phase and amplitude among the energy containing components, and that nonlinear interactions occur amongst the energy containing frequencies.     

Theoretical wind wave frequency spectra in deep water——Ⅰ. Form of spectrum

In this part ot the paper theoretical wind-wave spectra nave been derived oy (I) expressing the spectrum in series composed of exponential terms; (2) assuming that the spectrum satisfies a high order linear ordinary differential equation; (3) introducing proper parameters in the spectrum; and (4) making use of some known charateristics of wind-wave spectrum, for instance, the law governing the equilibrium range. The spectrum obtained contains the zero order moment of the spectrum m0, the peak frequency ω0 and the ratio R =ω/ω0 (ω being the mean zero-crossing frequency) as parameters. The shape of the nondimensional spectrum S(ω) = ω0S(ω)/m0(ω=ω/ω0) changes with R and theoretically reduces to a Dirac delta function δ(ω-1) when R = 1. A spectrum of simplified form is given for practical uses, in which R is replaced by a peakness factor P=S(1).     

台湾海峡西部海域余流和风关系的统计特征

本文根据在台湾海峡西部海域同步观测的风和流的实测资料进行统计分析,得出本海域表层风海流的流速系数(流速/风速)为0.05左右,流向在风向偏右14.5°,2级以下弱风时余流流向为常流控制,3～4级时风海流控制表层和5m层余流流向,5级以上大风时,风海流能直达底层等结论。     

Experimental study on strong interaction between regular waves and wind waves—I

The interaction between mechanically generated regular waves and wind waves is experimentally investigated in a wind-wave tunnel. It is shown that the growth process of regular waves is divided into the four distinct stages as follows: (1) almost independent coexistence of wind waves and regular waves, (2) attenuation of wind waves with simultaneous growth of regular waves, (3) rapid growth of regular waves after disappearance of wind waves, and (4) transition of regular waves to wind waves after the wave breaking. At the second stage there is an apparent relation between the attenuation of wind waves and the growth of regular waves. This fact suggests that there is some strong nonlinear interactions which transfers energy effectively from wind waves to regular waves.     

广海湾海浪要素的基本特征及典型台风过程的波浪分析

文中利用广海湾内长达49个月的实测海浪资料,对湾内海浪基本要素以及大浪过程与热带气旋活动的关系进行统计分析,并选取一个典型台风过程的波浪进行研究。结果表明:广海湾内波浪多以0~2级波高为主,出现频率达67%,3级波高次之,出现频率为32%,偶有4级波高出现;平均波高年变化幅度不大,但季节变化特征明显,最大波高的年变化和季节变化幅度均较大;大浪多出现在夏、秋季,与热带气旋活动密切相关;2008年9月强台风"黑格比"活动期间,测点观测到最大浪高达3.55m,形成5级以上大浪,台风浪波型经历了涌浪(有成熟的,也有未成熟的)-风浪-涌浪(未成熟的)的过程,符合一般台风浪波型的演变规律。