Interaction soliton–sable dans un canal en eau peu profonde

Interaction between solitons and a sandy bed in shallow water is investigated. In our experiments, solitons are generated on the background of a harmonic wave, in a wave flume used in resonant mode. It is found that the sand ripples formed by the solitons propagation induce a significant decrease of solitons amplitude and of the phase shift between the soliton and the harmonic wave. However, the amplitude of the harmonic wave is approximately constant. The possible physical processes of such behaviour for the soliton amplitude and for the harmonic wave amplitude are discussed. To cite this article: F. Marin et al., C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).