Nonlinear wave resonance from bottom vibrations in uniform open-channel flow

Abstract

Abstract It is known from linear theory that bottom oscillations in uniform open-channel flow can produce resonant surface waves with zero group velocity and diverging amplitude (Tyvand and Torheim 2012). This resonance exists for Froude numbers smaller than one, at a critical frequency dependent on the Froude number. This resonance phenomenon is studied numerically in the time domain, with fully nonlinear free-surface conditions. An oscillatory 2D bottom source is started, and the local elevation at resonance grows until it may reach a saturation amplitude. Four waves exist at subcritical Froude numbers, where resonance represents the third and the fourth wave merging. In the zero-frequency limit, the dispersive second and fourth wave merge into a steady wave with finite group velocity and amplitude, and no other periodic waves exist. In the time-dependent nonlinear analysis at zero frequency, a transient undular bore may emerge as the dominating phenomenon.