Unstable surface waves in running water

DOI10.1007/S00220-008-0505-6MaRDI QIDQ946522zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 23 September 2008

Published in Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0708.0541

gravity waves periodic free-surface water waves shear flow stability

Bifurcations in context of PDEs (35B32) PDEs in connection with fluid mechanics (35Q35) Free boundary problems for PDEs (35R35) Water waves, gravity waves; dispersion and scattering, nonlinear interaction (76B15) Parallel shear flows in hydrodynamic stability (76E05)

Abstract: 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 free surface has a destabilizing effect. For a class of unstable shear flows, the bifurcation of nontrivial periodic traveling waves of small-amplitude is demonstrated at any wave number. We show the linear instability of small nontrivial waves bifurcated 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 water waves.

Review text

This paper provides an extensive study of periodic free-surface water waves under gravity. Specifically, the authors investigate the stability of periodic waves propagating downstream at constant speed over a shear flow of finite depth. They begin by examining the stability of shear flows for a flat surface. In this case, they obtain a sharp criterion of linear instability for a class of shear flows with inflection points and determine the maximal unstable wave number. The authors conclude that the free surface has a destabilizing effect when compared with the rigid-wall setting that has been investigated by \textit{Z.-W Lin} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 35, 318--356 (2003; Zbl 1126.76323)] and others (see references therein). They then establish the bifurcation of (nontrivial) periodic travelling waves at all wave numbers for unstable shear flows. Moreover, they demonstrate the linear instability of small nontrivial waves that appear after bifurcation (at an unstable wave number of the underlying shear flow). To accomplish this, they invoke a novel formulation of the linearized water-wave problem and a perturbation argument. Finally, the authors show that vorticity has a subtle influence on the stability of free-surface water waves. They do so by constructing an example of the background shear flow of unstable small-amplitude periodic travelling waves for an arbitrary vorticity strength and an arbitrary depth. The article is complemented by an extensive bibliography on the mathematical theory of gravity water waves, covering both historical and recent results.

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