Law of spreading of the crest of a breaking wave

In a wide range of conditions, ocean waves break. This can be seen as the manifestation of a singularity in the dynamics of the fluid surface, moving under the effect of the fluid motion underneath. We show that, at the onset of breaking, the wave crest expands in the spanwise direction as the squar...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Proceedings of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 464; no. 2095; pp. 1851 - 1866
Main Authors:	Pomeau, Y, Jamin, T, Le Bars, M, Le Gal, P, Audoly, B
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London The Royal Society 08-07-2008 Royal Society, The
Subjects:	Approximation Burger equation Coefficients Coordinate systems Engineering Sciences Fluid mechanics Fluids mechanics Geometric lines Jacobians Mechanics Nonlinear Hyperbolic Equations Physics Power laws Shallow water Shock waves Singularity Wave Breaking Waves
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	In a wide range of conditions, ocean waves break. This can be seen as the manifestation of a singularity in the dynamics of the fluid surface, moving under the effect of the fluid motion underneath. We show that, at the onset of breaking, the wave crest expands in the spanwise direction as the square root of time. This is first derived from a theoretical analysis and then compared with experimental findings. The agreement is excellent.
Bibliography:	istex:3010BC93301984D87D9EDF13D4A0AF5241E84CA2 href:1851.pdf ark:/67375/V84-JG2X4517-K ArticleID:rspa20080024
ISSN:	1364-5021 1471-2946
DOI:	10.1098/rspa.2008.0024