Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T19:00:57.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Surface waves in flowing water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

Chia-Shun Yih
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, The University of Michigan

Abstract

Surface waves in flowing water and their stability are studied. With U(y) denoting the mean velocity and d the depth of water, the following results are obtained: (i) in the plane of the complex wave velocity, c = cr + ici, all eigenvalues c with a positive ci lie within a semicircle which has as its diameter the range of the velocity U(y) of the primary flow, y being the vertical co-ordinate. (ii) If U″(y) does not change sign and U is monotonic in the field of flow, singular neutral modes (for which c = U somewhere in the field of flow) are impossible and the flow is stable. (iii) If U is analytic and U″ vanishes at the point or points where U is equal to the same constant Uc and where U′ is not zero then at least one neutral mode exists with c = Uc, provided U(d)Uc. (iv) If U is monotonic and U″/(U—c) is finite and non-zero at the critical point (c real), where U″ vanishes, then the neutral mode mentioned in (iii) above is contiguous with unstable modes, (v) If U″ < 0 and U′ [ges ] 0 there are waves with c [les ] U(0), with a finite maximum wavenumber kc corresponding to c = U(0) and with c decreasing monotonically to a finite c0 for k = 0. (vi) If U″ < 0 and U′ [ges ] 0 waves of all wavenumbers can travel with c > U(d). The eigenvalue c for any k is bounded.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1972 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

Benjamin, T. B. 1957 Wave formation in the laminar flow down an inclined plane. J. Fluid Mech. 2, 554574.Google Scholar
Benjamin, T. B. 1962 The solitary wave on a stream with an arbitrary distribution of vorticity. J. Fluid Mech. 12, 97116.Google Scholar
Burns, J. C. 1953 Long waves in running water. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 49, 695.Google Scholar
Foote, J. R. & Lin, C. C. 1950 Some recent investigations in the theory of hydrodynamic stability. Quart. Appl. Math. 8, 265280.Google Scholar
Howard, L. N. 1961 Note on a paper by John W. Miles. J. Fluid Mech. 10, 509512.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. N. 1955 Gravity waves in flowing water. Proc. Roy. Soc. A 231, 496504.Google Scholar
Lin, C. C. 1955 The Theory of Hydrodynamic Stability. Cambridge University Press.
Velthuizen, H. G. M. & Van Wijngaarden, L. 1969 Gravity waves over a non-uniform flow. J. Fluid Mech. 39, 817829.Google Scholar
Yih, C. S. 1963 Stability of liquid flow down an inclined plane. Phys. Fluids, 6, 321334.Google Scholar