Asymptotic interpretation of the Miles mechanism of wind-wave instability

DOI10.1017/JFM.2022.441MaRDI QIDQ5085113zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors A. F. Bonfils, Dhrubaditya Mitra, W. Moon, J. S. Wettlaufer

Publication date 27 June 2022

Published in Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.06844

zbMATH Keywords

air-sea interactioncritical layereigenvalueleading-order eigenfunctionRayleigh equationripple generationuniform asymptotic approximation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Stability and instability of geophysical and astrophysical flows (76E20) Asymptotic methods, singular perturbations applied to problems in fluid mechanics (76M45) Hydrology, hydrography, oceanography (86A05)

Abstract: When wind blows over water, ripples are generated on the water surface. These ripples can be regarded as perturbations of the wind field, which is modelled as a parallel inviscid flow. For a given wavenumber $k$, the perturbed streamfunction of the wind field and the complex phase speed are the eigenfunction and the eigenvalue of the so-called Rayleigh equation in a semi-infinite domain. Because of the small air-water density ratio, $h{o}_{ma}/h{o}_{mw}equivepsilon<<1$, the wind and the ripples are weakly coupled, and the eigenvalue problem can be solved perturbatively. At the leading order, the eigenvalue is equal to the phase speed $c_0$ of surface waves. At order $epsilon$, the eigenvalue has a finite imaginary part, which implies growth. Miles (1957) showed that the growth rate is proportional to the square modulus of the leading-order eigenfunction evaluated at the so-called critical level $z=z_c$, where the wind speed is equal to $c_0$ and the waves extract energy from the wind. Here, we construct uniform asymptotic approximations of the leading-order eigenfunction for long waves, which we use to calculate the growth rate as a function of $k$. In the strong wind limit, we find that the fastest growing wave is such that the aerodynamic pressure is in phase with the wave slope. The results are confirmed numerically.

Recommendations

• Effect of wind profile on the instability of wind blowing over water
• Viscous effects on wave generation by strong winds
• Modulation of the growth rate of short surface capillary–gravity wind waves by a long wave
• A simple model for the effect of water shear on the generation of waves by wind
• On phase velocity and growth rate of wind-induced gravity-capillary waves

Cites work

• Effect of wind profile on the instability of wind blowing over water
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3116443 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3704205 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3575164 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1409619 (Why is no real title available?)
• On the generation of surface waves by shear flows
• On the generation of surface waves by shear flows. Part 2
• On the generation of waves by turbulent wind
• On the Numerical Integration of the Orr-Sommerfeld Equation
• Physical interpretation of the mathematical theory of wave generation by wind
• Solution of Rayleighs instability equation for arbitrary wind profiles
• Surface-wave generation revisited

Cited in

(8)

• On phase velocity and growth rate of wind-induced gravity-capillary waves
• Nonlinear fast growth of water waves under wind forcing
• Solution of Rayleighs instability equation for arbitrary wind profiles
• Evidence of the critical layer mechanism in growing wind waves
• On alpha stable distribution of wind driven water surface wave slope
• Flow-driven interfacial waves: an inviscid asymptotic study
• Wind-generated waves on a water layer of finite depth
• Nonlinear waves in three-dimensional co-current gas-liquid film flow

This page was built for publication: Asymptotic interpretation of the Miles mechanism of wind-wave instability

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5085113)