Dynamics of unstable stokes waves: a numerical and experimental study

• Main Authors: Chabchoub, Amin, Peric, Robinson, Hoffmann, Norbert P.
• Other Authors: Swinburne University of Technology
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2014
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/388823; http://www.asmeconferences.org/omae2014/

Being an appropriate prototype to describe oceanic rogue waves, the Peregrine breather solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is investigated numerically and experimentally to analyze the dynamics of modulationally unstable Stokes waves. The evolution of the water surface elevation is studied numerically by solving the Navier-Stokes equations using a finite-volume approach and a volume of fluid method. The comparison of the numerical results with wave tank experiments show a very good agreement. The results confirm the ability of the chosen method to model the modulation instability of Stokes waves, in particular, breather dynamics in water waves with high accuracy even up to the onset of breaking. We also investigate the sub-surface flow fields, which may be of significance for the short-term prediction of extreme wave focusing in narrow-banded sea state conditions and therefore, for ocean engineering applications.