Stokes waves with constant vorticity: I. Numerical computation

Periodic traveling waves are numerically computed in a constant vorticity flow subject to the force of gravity. The Stokes wave problem is formulated via a conformal mapping as a nonlinear pseudodifferential equation, involving a periodic Hilbert transform for a strip, and solved by the Newton‐GMRES method. For strong positive vorticity, in the finite or infinite depth, overhanging profiles are found as the amplitude increases and tend to a touching wave, whose surface contacts itself at the trough line, enclosing an air bubble; numerical solutions become unphysical as the amplitude increases further and make a gap in the wave speed versus amplitude plane; another touching wave takes over and physical solutions follow along the fold in the wave speed versus amplitude plane until they ultimately tend to an extreme wave, which exhibits a corner at the crest. Touching waves connected to zero amplitude are found to approach the limiting Crapper wave as the strength of positive vorticity increases unboundedly, while touching waves connected to the extreme waves approach the rigid body rotation of a fluid disk.     

Rotational waves generated by current‐topography interaction

We study nonlinear free‐surface rotational waves generated through the interaction of a vertically sheared current with a topography. Equivalently, the waves may be generated by a pressure distribution along the free surface. A forced Korteweg–de Vries equation (fKdV) is deduced incorporating these features. The weakly nonlinear, weakly dispersive reduced model is valid for small amplitude topographies. To study the effect of gradually increasing the topography amplitude, the free surface Euler equations are formulated in the presence of a variable depth and a sheared current of constant vorticity. Under constant vorticity, the harmonic velocity component is formulated in a simplified canonical domain, through the use of a conformal mapping which flattens both the free surface as well as the bottom topography. Critical, supercritical, and subcritical Froude number regimes are considered, while the bottom amplitude is gradually increased in both the irrotational and rotational wave regimes. Solutions to the fKdV model are compared to those from the Euler equations. We show that for rotational waves the critical Froude number is shifted away from 1. New stationary solutions are found and their stability tested numerically.     

Local bifurcation and regularity for steady periodic capillary–gravity water waves with constant vorticity

We study periodic capillary–gravity waves at the free surface of water in a flow with constant vorticity over a flat bed. Using bifurcation theory the local existence of waves of small amplitude is proved even in the presence of stagnation points in the flow. We also derive the dispersion relation. Moreover, we prove a regularity result for the free surface.     

Modulational Instability in the Whitham Equation for Water Waves

We show that periodic traveling waves with sufficiently small amplitudes of the Whitham equation, which incorporates the dispersion relation of surface water waves and the nonlinearity of the shallow water equations, are spectrally unstable to long‐wavelengths perturbations if the wave number is greater than a critical value, bearing out the Benjamin–Feir instability of Stokes waves; they are spectrally stable to square integrable perturbations otherwise. The proof involves a spectral perturbation of the associated linearized operator with respect to the Floquet exponent and the small‐amplitude parameter. We extend the result to related, nonlinear dispersive equations.     

On the interaction of deep water waves and exponential shear currents

A train of periodic deep-water waves propagating on a steady shear current with a vertical distribution of vorticity is investigated by an analytic method, namely the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The magnitude of the vorticity varies exponentially with the magnitude of the stream function, while remaining constant on a particular streamline. The so-called Dubreil–Jacotin transformation is used to transfer the original exponentially nonlinear boundary-value problem in an unknown domain into an algebraically nonlinear boundary-value problem in a known domain. Convergent series solutions are obtained not only for small amplitude water waves on a weak current but also for large amplitude waves on a strong current. The nonlinear wave-current interaction is studied in detail. It is found that an aiding shear current tends to enlarge the wave phase speed, sharpen the wave crest, but shorten the maximum wave height, while an opposing shear current has the opposite effect. Besides, the amplitude of waves and fluid velocity decay over the depth more quickly on an aiding shear current but more slowly on an opposing shear current than that of waves on still water. Furthermore, it is found that Stokes criteria of wave breaking is still valid for waves on a shear current: a train of propagating waves on a shear current breaks as the fiuid velocity at crest equals the wave phase speed. Especially, it is found that the highest waves on an opposing shear current are even higher and steeper than that of waves on still water. Mathematically, this analytic method is rather general in principle and can be employed to solve many types of nonlinear partial differential equations with variable coefficients in science, finance and engineering.     

On the interaction of deep water waves and exponential shear currents

A train of periodic deep-water waves propagating on a steady shear current with a vertical distribution of vorticity is investigated by an analytic method, namely the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The magnitude of the vorticity varies exponentially with the magnitude of the stream function, while remaining constant on a particular streamline. The so-called Dubreil–Jacotin transformation is used to transfer the original exponentially nonlinear boundary-value problem in an unknown domain into an algebraically nonlinear boundary-value problem in a known domain. Convergent series solutions are obtained not only for small amplitude water waves on a weak current but also for large amplitude waves on a strong current. The nonlinear wave-current interaction is studied in detail. It is found that an aiding shear current tends to enlarge the wave phase speed, sharpen the wave crest, but shorten the maximum wave height, while an opposing shear current has the opposite effect. Besides, the amplitude of waves and fluid velocity decay over the depth more quickly on an aiding shear current but more slowly on an opposing shear current than that of waves on still water. Furthermore, it is found that Stokes criteria of wave breaking is still valid for waves on a shear current: a train of propagating waves on a shear current breaks as the fiuid velocity at crest equals the wave phase speed. Especially, it is found that the highest waves on an opposing shear current are even higher and steeper than that of waves on still water. Mathematically, this analytic method is rather general in principle and can be employed to solve many types of nonlinear partial differential equations with variable coefficients in science, finance and engineering.     

Linear stability of solitary waves of the Green‐Naghdi equations

We investigate the eigenvalue problem obtained from linearizing the Green‐Naghdi equations about solitary wave solutions. Unlike weakly nonlinear water wave models, the physical system considered here has nonlinearity in its highest derivative term. This results in more detailed asymptotic analysis of the eigenvalue problem in the presence of a large parameter. Combining the technique of singular perturbation with the Evans function, we show that for solitary waves of small amplitude, the problem has no eigenvalues of positive real part and the Evans function is nonvanishing everywhere except the origin. This fact then leads to the linear stability of these solitary waves. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Linear water waves with vorticity: Rotational features and particle paths

We study steady linear gravity waves of small amplitude travelling on a current of constant vorticity. For positive vorticity the situation resembles that of Stokes waves, but if the vorticity is large enough the particle trajectories are affected. For negative vorticity we show that there may appear internal waves and vortices, wherein the particle trajectories are not ellipses.     

Numerical Bifurcation and Spectral Stability of Wavetrains in Bidirectional Whitham Models

We consider several different bidirectional Whitham equations that have recently appeared in the literature. Each of these models combines the full two‐way dispersion relation from the incompressible Euler equations with a canonical shallow water nonlinearity, providing nonlocal model equations that may be expected to exhibit some of the interesting high‐frequency phenomena present in the Euler equations that standard “long‐wave” theories fail to capture. Of particular interest here is the existence and stability of periodic traveling wave solutions in such models. Using numerical bifurcation techniques, we construct global bifurcation diagrams for each system and compare the global structure of branches, together with the possibility of bifurcation branches terminating in a “highest” singular (peaked/cusped) wave. We also numerically approximate the stability spectrum along these bifurcation branches and compare the stability predictions of these models. Our results confirm a number of analytical results concerning the stability of asymptotically small waves in these models and provide new insights into the existence and stability of large amplitude waves.     

Transverse Spectral Stability of Small Periodic Traveling Waves for the KP Equation

The Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (KP) equation possesses a four‐parameter family of one‐dimensional periodic traveling waves. We study the spectral stability of the waves with small amplitude with respect to two‐dimensional perturbations which are either periodic in the direction of propagation, with the same period as the one‐dimensional traveling wave, or nonperiodic (localized or bounded). We focus on the so‐called KP‐I equation (positive dispersion case), for which we show that these periodic waves are unstable with respect to both types of perturbations. Finally, we briefly discuss the KP‐II equation, for which we show that these periodic waves are spectrally stable with respect to perturbations that are periodic in the direction of propagation, and have long wavelengths in the transverse direction.     

Particle trajectories beneath small amplitude shallow water waves in constant vorticity flows

We investigate the particle trajectories in a constant vorticity shallow water flow over a flat bed as periodic waves propagate on the water’s free surface. Within the framework of small amplitude waves, we find the solutions of the nonlinear differential equations system which describes the particle motion in the considered case, and we describe the possible particle trajectories. Depending on the relation between the initial data and the constant vorticity, some particle trajectories are undulating curves to the right, or to the left, others are loops with forward drift, or with backward drift, others can follow some peculiar shapes.     

Numerical solution of RLW equation using linear finite elements within Galerkin's method

The regularised long wave equation is solved by Galerkin's method using linear space finite elements. In the simulations of the migration of a single solitary wave, this algorithm is shown to have good accuracy for small amplitude waves. Moreover, for very small amplitude waves (⩽0.09) it has higher accuracy than an approach using quadratic B-spline finite elements within Galerkin's method. The interaction of two solitary waves is modelled for small amplitude waves.     

Global bifurcation of steady gravity water waves with critical layers

We construct families of two-dimensional travelling water waves propagating under the influence of gravity in a flow of constant vorticity over a flat bed, in particular establishing the existence of waves of large amplitude. A Riemann–Hilbert problem approach is used to recast the governing equations as a one-dimensional elliptic pseudodifferential equation with a scalar constraint. The structural properties of this formulation, which arises as the Euler–Lagrange equation of an energy functional, enable us to develop a theory of analytic global bifurcation.     

Nonlinear Waves in a Shear Flow with a Vorticity Discontinuity

We consider nonlinear finite-amplitude progressive shear-flow waves on a basic velocity profile consisting of two coflowing layers of inviscid equal-density fluid, each of uniform but different vorticity. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear integral equation describing the shape of the vorticity discontinuity in a frame of reference in which the flow is steady. Numerical solutions to this equation are presented for a range of values of the vorticity ratio Ω. For 1 > © ≥ ? 1 the theoretical maximum wave amplitude occurs when the wave crest forms a 90° corner which just touches the appropriate critical-layer stagnation point. The linearized stability of the progressive wave states to arbitrary subharmonic isovortical disturbances is studied numerically. The results indicate stability at moderate values of the wave amplitude.     

Nonlinear Wave–Current Interactions in Shallow Water

We study here the propagation of long waves in the presence of vorticity. In the irrotational framework, the Green–Naghdi equations (also called Serre or fully nonlinear Boussinesq equations) are the standard model for the propagation of such waves. These equations couple the surface elevation to the vertically averaged horizontal velocity and are therefore independent of the vertical variable. In the presence of vorticity, the dependence on the vertical variable cannot be removed from the vorticity equation but it was however shown in 1 that the motion of the waves could be described using an extended Green–Naghdi system. In this paper, we propose an analysis of these equations, and show that they can be used to get some new insight into wave–current interactions. We show in particular that solitary waves may have a drastically different behavior in the presence of vorticity and show the existence of solitary waves of maximal amplitude with a peak at their crest, whose angle depends on the vorticity. We also show some simple numerical validations. Finally, we give some examples of wave–current interactions with a nontrivial vorticity field and topography effects.     

A Numerical Study of the Stability of Solitary Waves of the Bona–Smith Family of Boussinesq Systems

In this paper we study, from a numerical point of view, some aspects of stability of solitary-wave solutions of the Bona–Smith systems of equations. These systems are a family of Boussinesq-type equations and were originally proposed for modelling the two-way propagation of one-dimensional long waves of small amplitude in an open channel of water of constant depth. We study numerically the behavior of solitary waves of these systems under small and large perturbations with the aim of illuminating their long-time asymptotic stability properties and, in the case of large perturbations, examining, among other, phenomena of possible blow-up of the perturbed solutions in finite time.      

Rossby Solitary Waves in the Presence of a Critical Layer

This study considers the evolution of weakly nonlinear long Rossby waves in a horizontally sheared zonal current. We consider a stable flow so that the nonlinear time scale is long. These assumptions enable the flow to organize itself into a large‐scale coherent structure in the régime where a competition sets in between weak nonlinearity and weak dispersion. This balance is often described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation. The traditional assumption of a weak amplitude breaks down when the wave speed equals the mean flow velocity at a certain latitude, due to the appearance of a singularity in the leading‐order equation, which strongly modifies the flow in a critical layer. Here, nonlinear effects are invoked to resolve this singularity, because the relevant geophysical flows have high Reynolds numbers. Viscosity is introduced in order to render the nonlinear‐critical‐layer solution unique, but the inviscid limit is eventually taken. By the method of matched asymptotic expansions, this inner flow is matched at the edges of the critical layer with the outer flow. We will show that the critical‐layer–induced flow leads to a strong rearrangement of the related streamlines and consequently of the potential‐vorticity contours, particularly in the neighborhood of the separatrices between the open and closed streamlines. The symmetry of the critical layer vis‐à‐vis the critical level is also broken. This theory is relevant for the phenomenon of Rossby wave breaking and eventual saturation into a nonlinear wave. Spatially localized solutions are described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation, modified by new nonlinear terms; depending on the critical‐layer shape, this leads to depression or elevation waves. The additional terms are made necessary at a certain order of the asymptotic expansion while matching the inner flow on the dividing streamlines. The new evolution equation supports a family of solitary waves. In this paper we describe in detail the case of a depression wave, and postpone for further discussion the more complex case of an elevation wave.     

Spectral Stability of Deep Two‐Dimensional Gravity‐Capillary Water Waves

In this contribution we study the spectral stability problem for periodic traveling gravity‐capillary waves on a two‐dimensional fluid of infinite depth. We use a perturbative approach that computes the spectrum of the linearized water wave operator as an analytic function of the wave amplitude/slope. We extend the highly accurate method of Transformed Field Expansions to address surface tension in the presence of both simple and repeated eigenvalues, then numerically simulate the evolution of the spectrum as the wave amplitude is increased. We also calculate explicitly the first nonzero correction to the flat‐water spectrum, which we observe to accurately predict the stability (or instability) for all amplitudes within the disk of analyticity of the spectrum. With this observation in mind, the disk of analyticity of the flat state spectrum is numerically estimated as a function of the Bond number and the Bloch parameter, and compared to the value of the wave slope at the first finite amplitude eigenvalue collision.     

Solitary wave solutions to the Isobe-Kakinuma model for water waves

We consider the Isobe-Kakinuma model for two-dimensional water waves in the case of a flat bottom. The Isobe-Kakinuma model is a system of Euler-Lagrange equations for a Lagrangian approximating Luke's Lagrangian for water waves. We show theoretically the existence of a family of small amplitude solitary wave solutions to the Isobe-Kakinuma model in the long wave regime. Numerical analysis for large amplitude solitary wave solutions is also provided and suggests the existence of a solitary wave of extreme form with a sharp crest.