Author(s): Nicoletta Tambroni; Paolo Blondeaux; Giovanna Vittori
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Waves and currents; Turbulent flow
Abstract: The interaction between a propagating surface wave and a steady current is investigated by means of a simple model. The wave propagates in the same direction of the current or against it. The amplitude of the wave is assumed t o be much smaller than its wavelength and the velocity oscillations induced by wave propagation to be of the same order of magnitude as the depth averaged velocity due to the steady current. A perturbation approach is employed to determine the flow field, which is expanded using the wave steepness as a small parameter. The hydrodynamic problems, which are obtained at the different orders of approximation, are solved numerically by means of a finite difference approach without the need to split the fluid domain in an inviscid core region and surface and bottom boundary layers. A comparison between the theoretical results and the experimental measurements of different authors supports the model findings.
Year: 2015