Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T12:56:14.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Response of gravity water waves to wind excitation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

James B. Bole  and
En Yun Hsu
James B. Bole
Affiliation:
Department of Civil Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California Present address: Chevron Oil Field Research Company, La Habra, California.
En Yun Hsu
Affiliation:
Department of Civil Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The primary objective of this work was to study the response of gravity water waves to wind excitation and, in particular, the applicability of the Miles inviscid shear-flow theory of gravity wave growth, by conducting experiments in a laboratory wind-wave channel under conditions approximating the assumptions of the mathematical model. Mechanically generated wave profiles subjected to wind action were measured with capacitance wire sensors and wave energy was calculated at seven stations spaced at 10ft. intervals along the channel test section. Waves varied in length from about 2·5 to 6·5 ft. and maximum wind speeds ranged from 12 to 44 ft./sec. Vertical mean air velocity profiles were taken at six stations in the channel, fitted near the air-water interface with semi-logarithmic profiles, and used in a stepwise computation of theoretical wave growth. The results show that the measured wave energy growth is exponential but considerably larger than the growth predictions of Miles's theory. Derived experimental values of the phase-shifted pressure component β are greater than theoretical values by a factor varying from 1 to 10, with a mean of about 3. Wind mean velocity profiles appear to be closely logarithmic near the air-water interface. Wind-generated ripples superposed on mechanically generated waves created a rough water surface with standard deviation larger, in all cases, than the respective critical-layer thickness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , 10 March 1969 , pp. 657 - 675
Copyright
© 1969 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnett, T. P., & Wilkerson, J. C. 1967 On the generation of wind waves as inferred from airborne radar measurements of fetch-limited spectra J. Mar. Res. 25, 292–328.Google Scholar
Bole, J. B. & Hsu, E. Y. 1967 Response of gravity water waves to wind excitation. Stanford Univ. Civil Engrg. Dept. Tech. Rep. no. 79.Google Scholar
Coles, D. 1956 The law of the wake in the turbulent boundary layer J. Fluid Mech. 1, 191–226.Google Scholar
Conte, S. D. & Miles, J. W. 1959 On the numerical integration of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation J. Soc. Indust. Appl. Math. 7, 361–6.Google Scholar
Dean, R. G. 1965 Stream function representation of nonlinear ocean waves J. Geophys. Res. 70, 4561–72.Google Scholar
Hamada, T. 1963 An experimental study of development of wind waves. Port and Harbour Tech. Res. Inst. Rep. no. 2, Yokosuka, Japan.Google Scholar
Hsu, E. Y. 1965 A wind, water-wave research facility. Stanford Univ. Engrg. Dept. Tech. Rep. no. 57.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. N. 1952 Viscous damping of waves over an inclined bed in a channel of finite width Houille Blanche, 7, 836.Google Scholar
Inoue, T. 1966 On the growth of the spectrum of a wind generated sea according to a modified Miles-Philiips mechanism. New York Univ. Dept of Met. and Ocean., Geophys. Sci. Lab. Rep. no. TR66-6.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, H. 1925 On the formation of water waves by wind. Proc. Roy. Soc A 107, 189–206.Google Scholar
Korwin-Kroukovsky, B. V. 1966 Air pressures causing wave development, estimate by theory, model tests, and observations Dt. hydrogr. Z. 19, 145–59.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1962 Physical interpretation of the mathematical theory of wave generation by wind J. Fluid Mech. 14, 385–98.Google Scholar
Miles, J. W. 1957 On the generation of surface waves by shear flows J. Fluid Mech. 3, 185–204.Google Scholar
Miles, J. W. 1959 On the generation of surface waves by shear flows J. Fluid Mech. 6, 568–82.Google Scholar
Miles, J. W. 1967 On the generation of surface waves by shear flows. Part 5 J. Fluid Mech. 20, 163–75.Google Scholar
Phillips, O. M. 1958 Wave generation by turbulent wind over a finite fetch. Proc. 3rd Natn. Congr. Appl. Mech. pp. 785–9.
Phillips, O. M. 1966 The Dynamics of the Upper Ocean. Cambridge University Press.
Shemdin, O. H. 1968 Wind generated waves: recent and future developments. Fifth Space Congress, Oceanography Session, Cocoa Beach, Florida.
Shemdin, O. H. & Hsu, E. Y. 1966 The dynamics of wind in the vicinity of progressive water waves. Stanford Univ. Civil Engrg. Dept. Tech. Rep. no. 66.Google Scholar
Shemdin, O. H. & Hsu, E. Y. 1967 Direct measurement of aerodynamic pressure above a simple progressive gravity wave J. Fluid Mech. 30, 403–16.Google Scholar
Snyder, R. L. & Cox, C. S. 1966 A field study of the wind generation of ocean waves J. Mar. Res. 24, 141–78.Google Scholar
Wiegel, R. L. & Cross, R. H. 1966 Generation of wind waves J. WatWays Harb. Div. ASCE 92, 1–26.Google Scholar