Viscous effects on wave generation by strong winds

A. Zeisel, M. Stiassnie, Y. Agnon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper deals with the stability of water waves in a shear flow. Both temporal and spatial growth rates are derived. A carefully designed numerical solver enables us to extend the range of previous calculations, and to obtain results for larger wavelengths (up to 20 cm) and stronger winds (up to a friction-velocity of 1 m s−1). The main finding is the appearance of a second unstable mode which often turns out to be the dominant one. A comparison between results from the viscous model (Orr–Sommerfeld equations) and those of the inviscid model (Rayleigh equations), for 18 cm long waves, reveals some similarity in the structure of the eigenfunctions, but a significant difference in the imaginary part of the eigenvalues (i.e. the growth rate). It is found that the growth rate for the viscous model is 10 fold larger than that of the inviscid one.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)343-369
Number of pages27
JournalJournal of Fluid Mechanics
Volume597
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Feb 2008

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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