Spontaneous Emission of Gravity Waves by Interacting Vortex Dipoles in a Stratified Fluid: Laboratory Experiments

Results from a new series of experiments on the geophysically important issue of spontaneous emission of internal gravity waves during unsteady interactions of vortical structures are presented. Vortex dipoles are a common element of a quasi-two-dimensional turbulent flow. Vortex dipoles perform translational motion and can collide with other vortices. During collision events the flow is unsteady and unbalanced and a further adjustment process associated with these events can therefore result in the spontaneous emission of gravity waves. Our laboratory experiments demonstrate that gravity waves are emitted when two translating vortex dipoles interact (collide) in a layered fluid, in accord with the current theoretical results. The emission was evident both in a two-layer system and in a fluid with a linear distribution of density with depth. The waves were generated during the period of deceleration of the secondary dipoles which constitute a vortex quadrupole emerging immediately after the collision of the primary dipoles.     

Sediment transport patterns at Trafalgar offshore windfarm

A simple analytical model of wave propagation has been developed in order to study the potential sediment transport patterns due to the action of currents and waves in the neighborhood of cylindrical structures as well inside a group of these structures. The attention is focused on the study of Trafalgar offshore windfarm, a case in which it has been necessary to analyze the flow trough porous structures in order to model fish growing-cages planned to be installed at each aerogenerator structure. The results are obtained by averaging over one period of wave in order to evaluate the net potential sediment transport. The analysis of the results reveals how the processes of wave diffraction and reflection give rise to periodic patterns of sediment transport around and between the structures.     

Discussion of “A simple method to determine breaker height and depth for different deepwater wave height/length ratios and sea floor slopes”, by J.P. Le Roux [Coastal Engineering 54 (2007) 271–277]

In the recent paper by J.P. Le Roux [Coastal Engineering 54 (2007) 271–277], the author provides a simplified approach to calculating the depth, length, and height of waves at the onset of depth-induced breaking (i.e. at the breaker line). However, the proposed methodology and the comparisons to other methods suffer from a large number of inconsistencies and basic calculation errors. In addition, there are a number of erroneous physical interpretations and many of the conclusions are based on erroneous data. The remaining conclusions are either not new or based on circular logic, such as to render them moot. In the following, we will not attempt to point out all the errors or inconsistencies that we found, instead we focus on major points of contention.     

Effective fetch and non-linear four-wave interactions during wave growth in slanting fetch conditions

Wave growth in slanting fetch (with wind blowing obliquely off a coast) is investigated with 7 years worth of routine wave measurements in Lake IJssel in The Netherlands and with the SWAN wave model. Two aspects are considered in particular for this case: the validity of the concept of effective fetch and the role of the non-linear four-wave interactions. For slanting and parallel fetch conditions, we found some significant deviations from the effective fetch assumption, leading to 20–35% mismatch in either the peak period T_p or the significant wave height H_m0 respectively. However, the effect of discrepancies between various widely accepted wave growth formulas turned out to be even more important. The wave directions during slanting fetch are significantly ‘steered’ by the coastline, especially in the first kilometre(s) off the coast. The role of the non-linear four-wave interactions is investigated by running the SWAN (version 40.41) wave model with three different quadruplet formulations. Exact quadruplet methods (Xnl) yielded relatively strong wave steering, despite the four-wave interactions being relatively weak. Application of Xnl did not lead to better overall agreement with measurements — improvements for the mean wave period T_m01 were offset by some deterioration for the wave height H_m0.     

黄河三角洲沿岸海浪风暴潮耦合作用漫堤风险评估研究

海浪、风暴潮是重要的海洋灾害因子,过去人们主要对这些灾害因子本身进行研究,而对它们作用的承灾体研究甚少。实际上,只有它们作用的承灾体遭到破坏,才产生海洋灾害。本研究的目的就是要针对海浪风暴潮漫堤灾害,提出漫堤灾害的风险评估标准及风险评估方法和程式,为沿海防灾减灾提供科学依据。针对黄河三角洲示范区,根据漫堤程度,提出了漫堤灾害风险等级标准,并基于建立的海浪和风暴潮潮汐数值模式及长期预测结果,提出了风险评估方法和程式步骤。对黄河三角洲近岸海域主要堤段进行了多年一遇和典型台风过程漫堤灾害的风险评估。得到的结果是:该区沿岸海堤在风暴潮水位下一般都不能发生水位漫堤现象,只有加上波浪作用时,才会出现海水漫堤;当发生五十年一遇的风暴潮、浪时,多数的海堤的风暴潮、浪漫堤灾害风险在3—4级,即有效波高的浪已爬上或接近爬到堤顶;9216和9711号台风所产生的风暴潮、浪灾害约为150—200年一遇的情况。从实际情况看,本研究中提出的漫堤风险评估标准、评估方法是可行的,评估结果为有效防减海浪风暴潮漫堤灾害造成的损失提供了参考。     

The sheltering effect of the Balearic Islands in the hindcast wave field

The sheltering effect of the Balearic Islands in the hindcast wave field was studied for typical Mediterranean wave situations of Llevant, Tramuntana and Mestral and for mild conditions such as the Garbí and Ponent winds. For this purpose, a third generation wave model was applied to the Mediterranean Sea and different patterns of the sheltered areas were found for the various representative situations depending on the wind variability and on the magnitude of the wind speed. From the analysis it was concluded that the sheltered zones created during storms generally persist for short periods of time of the order of 6 h, possibly reaching a maximum of 12 h. In contrast with earlier results obtained for swell dominated ocean areas, it was observed that in this area, due to the short fetches the sea states are mainly local wind seas and thus the wave field behind the islands depends on the local wind.     

Vorticity and intermittency within the pre-breaking region of spilling breakers

This paper presents measurements and analysis of fluid velocity within the context of spilling waves. The data have been collected using 2-D Laser Doppler Velocimetry in pre-breaking monochromatic waves generated in a wave tank. The analysis is performed using orthogonal wavelets and, in addition to the classical criterion adopted in applying Taylor's hypothesis, a new algorithm is proposed for the eduction of eddies at different length scales. The contribution of different scale vortices is computed, and phase is resolved. Microvortices (smaller than the breaker height but larger than the dissipative vortices) and mid-size vortices (with length ranging from the breaker height to the wave length) carry out most turbulence energy under wave crest. The phase average vorticity and strain rate is computed at different wave lengths, with the analysis of intermittence. The intermittency factor shows spikes in the wave crest, especially for turbulence in small vortices.     

Influence of discrete step size on wind setup component of storm surge

Open coast storm surge water levels consist of wind setup due to wind shear at the water surface; a wave setup component caused by wind induced waves transferring momentum to the water column; an atmospheric pressure head component due to the atmospheric pressure deficit over the spatial extent of the storm system; a Coriolis forced setup or setdown component due to the effects of the rotation of the earth acting on the wind driven alongshore current at the coast; a possible seiche component due to resonance effects initiated by moving wind system, and, if astronomical tides are present, an astronomical tide component (although the tide is typically considered to be a forced astronomical event and not really a direct part of the external wind-driven meteorological component of storm surge). Typically the most important component of a storm surge is the wind setup component, especially on the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico shorelines. In many approaches to storm surge modeling, a constant depth approximation is invoked over a limited step size in the computational domain. The use of a constant depth approximation has received little attention in the literature although can be very important to the resulting magnitude of the computed storm surge. The importance of discrete step size to the wind setup storm surge component is considered herein with a simple case computation of the wind setup component on a linear slope offshore profile. The present study findings show that the constant depth approximation to wind setup storm surge estimation is biased on the low side (except in extremely shallow water depths) and can provide large errors if discrete step size is not sufficiently resolved. Guidance has been provided on the error that one might encounter for various step sizes on different slopes.