3 results
Nonlinear water waves in channels of arbitrary shape
- Michelle H. Teng, Theodore Y. Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 242 / September 1992
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 April 2006, pp. 211-233
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The generalized channel Boussinesq (gcB) two-equation model and the forced channel Korteweg–de Vries (cKdV) one-equation model previously derived by the authors are further analysed and discussed in the present study. The gcB model describes the propagation and generation of weakly nonlinear, weakly dispersive and weakly forced long water waves in channels of arbitrary shape that may vary both in space and time, and the cKdV model is applicable to unidirectional motions of such waves, which may be sustained under forcing at resonance of the system. These two models are long-wave approximations of a hierarchy set of section-mean conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, which are exact for inviscid fluids. Results of these models are demonstrated with four specific channel shapes, namely variable rectangular, triangular, parabolic and semicircular sections, in which case solutions are obtained in closed form. In particular, for uniform channels of equal mean water depth, different cross-sectional shapes have a leading-order effect only on the variations of a k-factor of the coefficient of the term bearing the dispersive effects in the model equations. For this case, the uniform-channel analogy theorem enunciated here shows that long waves of equal (mean) height in different uniform channels of equal mean depth but distinct k-shape factors will propagate with equal velocity and with their effective wavelengths appearing k times of that in the rectangular channel, for which k = 1. It also shows that the further channel shape departs from the rectangular, the greater the value of k. Based on this observation, the solitary and cnoidal waves in a k-shaped channel are compared with experiments on wave profiles and wave velocities. Finally, some three-dimensional features of these solitary waves are presented for a triangular channel.
Evolution of long water waves in variable channels
- Michelle H. Teng, Theodore Y. Wu
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 266 / 10 May 1994
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 April 2006, pp. 303-317
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This paper applies two theoretical wave models, namely the generalized channel Boussinesq (gcB) and the channel Korteweg–de Vries (cKdV) models (Teng & Wu 1992) to investigate the evolution, transmission and reflection of long water waves propagating in a convergent–divergent channel of arbitrary cross-section. A new simplified version of the gcB model is introduced based on neglecting the higher-order derivatives of channel variations. This simplification preserves the mass conservation property of the original gcB model, yet greatly facilitates applications and clarifies the effect of channel cross-section. A critical comparative study between the gcB and cKdV models is then pursued for predicting the evolution of long waves in variable channels. Regarding the integral properties, the gcB model is shown to conserve mass exactly whereas the cKdV model, being limited to unidirectional waves only, violates the mass conservation law by a significant margin and bears no waves which are reflected due to changes in channel cross-sectional area. Although theoretically both models imply adiabatic invariance for the wave energy, the gcB model exhibits numerically a greater accuracy than the cKdV model in conserving wave energy. In general, the gcB model is found to have excellent conservation properties and can be applied to predict both transmitted and reflected waves simultaneously. It also broadly agrees well with the experiments. A result of basic interest is that in spite of the weakness in conserving total mass and energy, the cKdV model is found to predict the transmitted waves in good agreement with the gcB model and with the experimental data available.
Propagation of solitary waves through significantly curved shallow water channels
- AIMIN SHI, MICHELLE H. TENG, THEODORE Y. WU
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- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 362 / 10 May 1998
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 May 1998, pp. 157-176
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Propagation of solitary waves in curved shallow water channels of constant depth and width is investigated by carrying out numerical simulations based on the generalized weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive Boussinesq model. The objective is to investigate the effects of channel width and bending sharpness on the transmission and reflection of long waves propagating through significantly curved channels. Our numerical results show that, when travelling through narrow channel bends including both smooth and sharp-cornered 90°-bends, a solitary wave is transmitted almost completely with little reflection and scattering. For wide channel bends, we find that, if the bend is rounded and smooth, a solitary wave is still fully transmitted with little backward reflection, but the transmitted wave will no longer preserve the shape of the original solitary wave but will disintegrate into several smaller waves. For solitary waves travelling through wide sharp-cornered 90°-bends, wave reflection is seen to be very significant, and the wider the channel bend, the stronger the reflected wave amplitude. Our numerical results for waves in sharp-cornered 90°-bends revealed a similarity relationship which indicates that the ratios of the transmitted and reflected wave amplitude, excess mass and energy to the original wave amplitude, mass and energy all depend on one single dimensionless parameter, namely the ratio of the channel width b to the effective wavelength λe. Quantitative results for predicting wave transmission and reflection based on b/λe are presented.
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