Three-dimensional surface gravity waves of a broad bandwidth on deep water

A new nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is presented for ocean surface waves. Earlier derivations of NLSEs that describe the evolution of deep-water waves have been limited to a narrow bandwidth, for which the bound waves at second order in wave steepness are described in leading-order approximations. This work generalizes these earlier works to allow for deep-water waves of a broad bandwidth with large directional spreading. The new NLSE permits simple numerical implementations and can be extended in a straightforward manner in order to account for waves on water of finite depth. For the description of second-order waves, this paper proposes a semianalytical approach that can provide accurate and computationally efficient predictions. With a leading-order approximation to the new NLSE, the instability region and energy growth rate of Stokes waves are investigated. Compared with the exact results based on McLean (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 511, 1982, p. 135), predictions by the new NLSE show better agreement than by Trulsen et al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 12, 2000, pp. 2432–2437). With numerical implementations of the new NLSE, the effects of wave directionality are investigated by examining the evolution of a directionally spread focused wave group. A downward shift of the spectral peak is observed, owing to the asymmetry in the change rate of energy in a more complex manner than that for uniform Stokes waves. Rapid oblique energy transfers near the group at linear focus are observed, likely arising from the instability of uniform Stokes waves appearing in a narrow spectrum subject to oblique sideband disturbances.

Bound Coherent Structures Propagating on the Free Surface of Deep Water

This article presents a study of bound periodically oscillating coherent structures arising on the free surface of deep water. Such structures resemble the well known bi-soliton solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The research was carried out in the super-compact Dyachenko-Zakharov equation model for unidirectional deep water waves and the full system of nonlinear equations for potential flows of an ideal incompressible fluid written in conformal variables. The special numerical algorithm that includes a damping procedure of radiation and velocity adjusting was used for obtaining such bound structures. The results showed that in both nonlinear models for deep water waves after the damping is turned off, a periodically oscillating bound structure remains on the fluid surface and propagates stably over hundreds of thousands of characteristic wave periods without losing energy.

A General Nonlinear Wavemaker Theory for Intermediate- to Deep-Water Waves Using Inverse Scattering Transform

Analysis and generation of (nonlinear) intermediate- to deep-water waves with large steepness in experimental facilities are some of the most challenging tasks in wave mechanics. The inherent instability of water waves in deep-water waves makes the linear-based wave generation and analysis less accurate and incapable of generating and characterizing correctly nonlinear behavior of the target wave field. In this presented research, a detailed assessment of the wavemaker theories and steps included in experimental approaches are presented. After establishing the nonlinear behavior of generated intermediate- to deep-water waves, a novel wavemaker theory based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is proposed. The implementation of the proposed wavemaker theory shows its capability of generating deep-water waves more accurately and preserving the correct order of nonlinearity.