Resonant generation of internal waves on a model continental slope

We study internal wave generation in a laboratory model of oscillating tidal flow on a continental margin. Waves are found to be generated only in a near-critical region where the slope of the bottom topography matches that of internal waves. Fluid motion with a velocity an order of magnitude larger than that of the forcing occurs within a thin boundary layer above the bottom surface. The resonant wave is unstable because of strong shear; Kelvin-Helmholtz billows precede wave breaking. This work provides a new explanation for the intense boundary flows on continental slopes.     

Dispersion of interface waves in sediments with power-law shear speed profiles. I. Exact and approximate analytical results.

In the upper tens of meters of ocean bottom, unconsolidated marine sediments consisting of clay, silt, or fine sand with high porosity are "almost incompressible" in the sense that the shear wave velocity is much smaller than the compressional wave velocity. The shear velocity has very large gradients close to the ocean floor leading to strong coupling of compressional and shear waves in such "soft" sediments. The weak compressibility opens an avenue for developing a theory of elastic wave propagation in continuously stratified soft sediments that fully accounts for the coupling. Elastic waves in soft sediments consist of "fast" waves propagating with velocities close to the compressional velocity and "slow" waves propagating with velocities on the order of the shear velocity. For the slow waves, the theory predicts the existence of surface waves at the ocean-sediment boundary. In the important special case of the power-law depth-dependence of shear rigidity, phase and group velocities of the interface waves are shown to scale as a certain power of frequency. An explicit, exact solution was obtained for the surface waves in sediments characterized by constant density and a linear increase of shear rigidity with depth, that is, for the case of shear speed proportional to the square root of the depth below the sediment-water interface. Asymptotic and perturbation techniques were used to extend the result to more general environments. Theoretical dispersion relations agreed well with numerical simulations and available experimental data and, as demonstrated in a companion paper [D. M. F. Chapman and O. A. Godin, J. Acoust. Soc. Am 110, 1908 (2001)] led to a simple and robust inversion of interface wave travel times for shear velocity profiles in the sediment.     

内孤立波沿缓坡地形传播特性的实验研究

以南中国海东北部海域底部缓坡地形为背景, 在大型重力式分层流水槽中模拟了下凹型内孤立波沿缓坡地形传播过程中的浅化、破碎、分裂等现象, 利用分层染色标识方法和多点组合探头阵列技术对内孤立波沿缓坡地形演化特征进行了定性分析和定量测量. 实验表明: 浅化效应使内孤立波传播速度减小, 对大振幅内孤立波具有抑制作用, 对小振幅波具有放大效应; 浅化效应可导致内孤立波的剪切失稳及破碎, 还可导致大振幅内孤立波的分裂. 利用Miles稳定性理论可定性描述内孤立波沿缓坡地形传播时发生不稳定状态的位置, 实验结果与理论分析相符合. 关键词： 分层流 缓坡地形 内孤立波 不稳定性     

Diffraction-biased shear wave fields generated with longitudinal magnetic resonance elastography drivers

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a technique for quantifying the acoustic response of biological tissues to propagating waves applied at low frequencies in order to evaluate mechanical properties. Application-specific MRE drivers are typically required to effectively deliver shear waves within the tissue of interest. Surface MRE drivers with transversely oriented vibrations have often been used to directly generate shear waves. These drivers may have disadvantages in certain applications, such as poor penetration depth and inflexible orientation. Therefore, surface MRE drivers with longitudinally oriented vibrations are used in some situations. The purpose of this work was to investigate and optimize a longitudinal driver system for MRE applications. A cone-like hemispherical distribution of shear waves being generated by these drivers and the wave propagation being governed by diffraction in the near field are shown. Using MRE visualization of the vector displacement field, we studied the properties of the shear wave field created by longitudinal MRE drivers of various sizes to identify optimum shear wave imaging planes. The results offer insights and improvements in both experimental design and imaging plane selection for 2-D MRE data acquisition.     

The variations of the atmospheric parameters on measurements using the artificial periodic irregularities of plasma

The experimental data 2007–2010 on the altitudinal-temporal variations of the neutral atmosphere temperature at lower thermosphere heights are presented. The measurements were carried out by means of the artificial periodic irregularities formed under action of the powerful high frequency radio waves. The temperature and vertical velocity altitudinal variations of different character are compared. The cases of the atmosphere instability growth and following generation of the internal gravity waves are considered. The estimations of the gravity wave dissipation owing to the viscosity and the thermal conductivity are done.     

Kinetic theory of surface waves in a semibounded plasma flow

A study is made of the spectrum of surface waves in a semibounded plasma flow. The frequency spectra and damping rates of the waves propagating along the flow are analyzed both in the high-frequency range (in which the spatial dispersion is weak and the wave damping is governed primarily by electron collisions) and the low-frequency range (in which the spatial-dispersion effects dominate), with focus on the effect of the flow velocity on the propagation of ion-acoustic waves. Special attention is paid to the penetration of a static field into a plasma flowing at a supersonic velocity.     

Large-eddy simulation of the generation and propagation of internal solitary waves

A modified large-eddy simulation model,the dynamic coherent eddy model(DCEM)is employed to simulate the generation and propagation of internal solitary waves(ISWs)of both depression and elevation type,with wave amplitudes ranging from small,medium to large scales.The simulation results agree well with the existing experimental data.The generation process of ISWs is successfully captured by the DCEM method.Shear instabilities and diapycnal mixing in the initial wave generation phase are observed.The dissipation rate is not equal at different locations of an ISW.ISW-induced velocity field is analyzed in the present study.The structure of the bottom boundary layer(BBL)of internal wave packets is found to be different from that of a single ISW.A reverse boundary jet instead of a separation bubble exists behind the leading internal wave while separation bubbles appear in other parts of the wave-induced velocity field.The boundary jet flow resulting from the adverse pressure gradients has distinctive dynamics compared with free shear jets.     

Optical visualization of internal gravity waves in stratified fluid

The refractive index changes associated with flows in salt water systems allow such flows to be visualized by means of optical methods, e.g. schlieren and interferometry. Experiments that have been conducted by our group with internal gravity waves in stratified brine are reviewed. The experiments encompass visualization and quantitative measurement of internal gravity waves generated by a body oscillating around a fixed position and a test body moving with constant speed vertically through the stratified brine. It is also shown that the velocity field of an internal gravity wave can be measured by means of particle image velocimetry. References to respective wave theories are made.     

Linear mechanism of surface gravity wave generation in horizontally sheared flow

An analysis is presented of a linear mechanism of surface gravity wave generation in a horizontally sheared flow in a fluid layer with free boundary. A free-surface flow of this type is found to be algebraically unstable. The development of instability leads to the formation of surface gravity waves whose amplitude grows with time according to a power law. Flow stability is analyzed by using a nonmodal approach in which the behavior of a spatial Fourier harmonic of a disturbance is considered in a semi-Lagrangian frame of reference moving with the flow. Shear-flow disturbances are divided into two classes (wave and vortex disturbances) depending on the value of potential vorticity. It is shown that vortex disturbances decay with time while the energy of wave disturbances increases indefinitely. Transformation of vortex disturbances into wave ones under strong shear is described.     

Fast compressional wave attenuation and dispersion due to conversion scattering into slow shear waves in randomly heterogeneous porous media

Within the viscosity-extended Biot framework of wave propagation in porous media, the existence of a slow shear wave mode with non-vanishing velocity is predicted. It is a highly diffusive shear mode wherein the two constituent phases essentially undergo out-of-phase shear motions (slow shear wave). In order to elucidate the interaction of this wave mode with propagating wave fields in an inhomogeneous medium the process of conversion scattering from fast compressional waves into slow shear waves is analyzed using the method of statistical smoothing in randomly heterogeneous poroelastic media. The result is a complex wave number of a coherent plane compressional wave propagating in a dynamic-equivalent homogeneous medium. Analysis of the results shows that the conversion scattering process draws energy from the propagating wave and therefore leads to attenuation and phase velocity dispersion. Attenuation and dispersion characteristics are typical for a relaxation process, in this case shear stress relaxation. The mechanism of conversion scattering into the slow shear wave is associated with the development of viscous boundary layers in the transition from the viscosity-dominated to inertial regime in a macroscopically homogeneous poroelastic solid.     

Unstable Surface Waves in Running Water

We consider the stability of periodic gravity free-surface water waves traveling downstream at a constant speed over a shear flow of finite depth. In case the free surface is flat, a sharp criterion of linear instability is established for a general class of shear flows with inflection points and the maximal unstable wave number is found. Comparison to the rigid-wall setting testifies that the free surface has a destabilizing effect. For a class of unstable shear flows, the bifurcation of nontrivial periodic traveling waves is demonstrated at all wave numbers. We show the linear instability of small nontrivial waves that appear after bifurcation at an unstable wave number of the background shear flow. The proof uses a new formulation of the linearized water-wave problem and a perturbation argument. An example of the background shear flow of unstable small-amplitude periodic traveling waves is constructed for an arbitrary vorticity strength and for an arbitrary depth, illustrating that vorticity has a subtle influence on the stability of free-surface water waves.     

Asymptotic Models of Diffusion Effects due to Nonlinear Resonant Interaction of Waves with Flows

We develop an asymptotic theory describing nonlocal effects caused by weak-diffusion processes in the case of resonant interaction of quasi-harmonic waves of small but finite amplitudes with flows of various physical nature in the case of an arbitrary relation between the nonlinearity and diffusion.We analyze the interaction of internal gravity waves with plane-parallel stratified shear flows in the nonlinearly-dissipative critical layer (CL) formed in the vicinity of the resonance level where the flow velocity is equal to the phase velocity of the wave. It is shown that the combined effect of the radiation force in the inner region of the CL and vorticity diffusion to the outer region results in the formation of a flow in which the asymptotic values of average vorticity at different sides of the CL are constant but different. If the criterion of the linear dynamic stability is satisfied (the Richardson number Ri>1/4), the resulting vorticity steps are comparable to the unperturbed vorticity. As a result, a wave reflected from the vorticity inhomogeneity in the CL is formed. As the amplitude of the incident wave increases, the average vorticity at the incidence side approaches the linear-stability threshold (Richardson number Ri > 1/4), and the reflection coefficient tends to -1.In the regime of nonlinear dissipative CL, we study the quasi-stationary asymptotic behavior of the flow formed by an internal gravity wave incident on a dynamically stable flow with velocity and density stratification, whose velocity at some level is equal to the phase velocity of the wave. It is shown that the vorticity diffusion results in the formation of a nonlocal transition region between the CL and the unperturbed flow, which we call the diffusive boundary layer (DBL). In this case, the CL is shifted toward the incident wave. We obtain a self-similar solution for the average fields, which is valid in the case of a constant vorticity step in the CL, and determine its parameters depending on the inner Reynolds number in the CL which describes the relation between the nonlinear and diffusive effects for the wave field in the resonance region. We determine the structure and temporal dynamics of the DBL formed by a rough surface streamlined by a stratified fluid whose velocity changes direction at some level.It is shown that in the case of the nonlinear resonance interaction of plasma electrons with a Langmuir wave, the electron diffusion in the velocity space leads to a significant nonlocal distortion of the electron distribution function outside the trapping region. We determine the distorted distribution function and calculate the rate of the nonlinear Landau damping of a finite-amplitude wave for an arbitrary ratio of the electron collision rate and the oscillation period of trapped electrons.     

Effect of anisotropy on acoustoelastic birefringence in wood

The ultrasonic velocity of shear waves propagating through radial direction of a wood plate specimen, transversely to the loading direction, was measured. By rotating an ultrasonic sensor, the oscillation direction of the shear waves was varied with respect to the wood plate axis and loading direction. The relationship between shear wave velocity and oscillation direction was examined to discuss the effect of anisotropy on the acoustoelastic birefringence in wood. The results obtained were summarized as follows. When the oscillation direction of the shear wave corresponded to the tangential direction of the wood specimen regardless of the stress direction, shear wave velocity decreased markedly and the relationship between shear wave velocity and rotation angle tended to become discontinuous. That is, when the shear waves oscillated in the anisotropic axis of the wood, the shear wave velocity peaked unlike in the case of oscillation in the stress direction. In an isotropic material (acrylic, aluminum 5052), on the contrary, when the shear waves oscillated in the stress direction of the specimen, the shear wave velocity peaked regardless of the main-axis direction of the specimen. On the basis of the discussion of these results, the ultrasonic shear wave propagating in wood under stress is confirmed to be polarized in the anisotropic axis of the wood.     

Stability of 3D flow of viscous liquid streamlined by the turbulent gas flow

Stability of the combined flow of liquid film and turbulent gas is studied theoretically for an arbitrary angle between the directions of gas flow and gravity force. The three-dimensional wave flow of the film is described on the basis of integral approach and quasilaminar model of the turbulent gas flow. Increment and phase velocity of waves are calculated for the case of a vertical film and horizontal gas flow depending on the direction of their propagation. According to calculations, the cross gas flow increases the instability area significantly as well as the range of directions for propagation of the fast growing perturbations on the film surface.     

Experimental study of nonlinear acoustic effects in a granular medium

Results of a series of experimental studies of nonlinear acoustic effects in a granular medium are presented. Different effects observed in the experiments simultaneously testify that the nonlinearity of granular media is governed by the weakest intergrain contacts. The behavior of the observed dependences suggests that the distribution function of contact forces strongly increases in the range of forces much smaller than the mean force value, which is inaccessible for conventional experimental measuring techniques. For shear waves in a granular medium, the effects of demodulation and second harmonic generation with conversion to longitudinal waves are studied. These effects are caused by the nonlinear dilatancy of the medium, i.e., by the nonlinear law of its volume variation in the shear stress field. With the use of shear waves of different polarizations, the anisotropy of the nonlinearity of the medium is demonstrated. The observation of the cross-modulation effect shows that the nonlinearity-induced modulation components of the probe wave are much more sensitive to weak nonstationary perturbations of the medium, as compared to the linearly propagating fundamental harmonic. The nonlinear effects under study offer promise for diagnostic applications in laboratory measurements and in seismic monitoring systems.     

冲击波在空气和熔石英元件界面传播的超快诊断

基于球面波在弹性介质界面上的反射和折射特性的基本理论,采用超快时间分辨的光学诊断技术,研究了532nm纳秒激光辐照熔石英元件表面产生的冲击波在空气和样品界面的传播特性,获得了冲击波在材料内部传输以及在空气与样品界面反射的时间分辨图像。结果表明:激光脉冲与材料作用在前后表面产生了向体内传输的冲击波,且产生的冲击波在玻璃与空气界面处反射为两个波,即反射波和反射剪切波;反射波和反射剪切波的强度与入射冲击波的入射角有关。     

Exact analytic self-similar solution of a wave attractor field

Stratified and rotating fluids support obliquely propagating internal waves. A symmetry-breaking shape of the fluid domain focuses them on a wave attractor. For a trapezoidal basin, it is here shown how to determine the internal wave field analytically. This requires solving the wave equation on a closed domain-an ill-posed Cauchy problem-whose solution exhibits a remarkable self-similar spatial structure. These results are relevant for mixing and mean flow generation in oceans, atmospheres and stars whose symmetry is generally broken and where internal waves are tidally forced.     

Detection of moving objects and flows in liquids by ultrasonic phase conjugation

The possibility for the application of the method of parametric phase conjugation of ultrasonic waves in measuring the velocity of moving objects and flows is investigated. Results of experimental measurements of the Doppler frequency shift are presented for a low-frequency wave (1 MHz) generated by phase-conjugate waves (10 MHz and 11 MHz) propagating in opposite directions in the presence of a moving scatterer. The super high sensitivity of the phase of the low-frequency wave to variations in the spatial position of the scatterer is used to measure the velocity of the object. The presence of flows in the region of propagation of phase-conjugate waves returned leads to an uncompensated Doppler shift of the phase of the phase-conjugate wave at the primary radiation source. The implementation of this feature of ultrasonic phase conjugation for the detection and measurement of the flow velocities in a liquid is demonstrated experimentally.     

Physical investigation of acoustic waves induced by the oscillation and collapse of the single bubble

The objective of this paper is to apply both experimental and numerical methods to investigate acoustic waves induced by the oscillation and collapse of a single bubble. In the experiments, the schlieren technique is used to capture the temporal evolution of the bubble shapes, and the corresponding acoustic waves. The results are presented for the single bubble generated by a low-voltage bubble generator in the free field of water. During the numerical simulations, a three-dimensional (3D) weakly compressible model is introduced to investigate the single bubble dynamics, including the generation and propagation of acoustic waves. The results show that (1) Compression wave, rarefaction wave and shock wave are generated during expansion stage, collapse stage and rebound stage of the bubble respectively. (2) Compression waves are induced by the rapid expansion of the bubble and eventually steepen into one shock wave propagating outward in the liquid, then another strong shock wave is emitted at the final collapse stage. The velocity and pressure of the liquid field increases after the shock wave. (3) Rarefaction waves are generated during the collapse stage due to the contraction of the bubble. The rarefaction wave reduces the liquid pressure and its spatial distribution is dispersive. The pressure of these acoustic waves and their effect on the liquid velocity attenuate with the increase of propagation distance.