Mass transport under partially reflected waves in a rectangular channel

Abstract

Mass transport under partially reflected waves in a rectangular channel is studied. The effects of sidewalls on the mass transport velocity pattern are the focus of this paper. The mass transport velocity is governed by a nonlinear transport equation for the second-order mean vorticity and the continuity equation of the Eulerian mean velocity. The wave slope, ka, and the Stokes boundary-layer thickness, k (ν/σ)½, are assumed to be of the same order of magnitude. Therefore convection and diffusion are equally important. For the three-dimensional problem, the generation of second-order vorticity due to stretching and rotation of a vorticity line is also included. With appropriate boundary conditions derived from the Stokes boundary layers adjacent to the free surface, the sidewalls and the bottom, the boundary value problem is solved by a vorticity-vector potential formulation; the mass transport is, in gneral, represented by the sum of the gradient of a scalar potential and the curl of a vector potential. In the present case, however, the scalar potential is trivial and is set equal to zero. Because the physical problem is periodic in the streamwise direction (the direction of wave propagation), a Fourier spectral method is used to solve for the vorticity, the scalar potential and the vector potential. Numerical solutions are obtained for different reflection coefficients, wave slopes, and channel cross-sectional geometry.