Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2006
The double-boundary-layer theory of Stuart (1963, 1966) and Riley (1965, 1967) is employed to investigate the mass transport velocity due to two-dimensional standing waves in a system comprising two homogeneous fluids of different densities and viscosities. The most important double-boundary-layer structure occurs in the neighbourhood of the oscillating interface, and the possible existence of jet-like motions is envisaged at nodal positions, owing to the nature of the mean flows in the layers. In practice, the magnitude of the mass transport velocity can be a significant fraction of that of the primary, oscillatory velocity.