On internal waves generated by large-amplitude circular and rectilinear oscillations of a circular cylinder in a uniformly stratified fluid

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study of internal waves generated by circular and rectilinear oscillations of a circular cylinder in a uniformly stratified fluid. The synthetic schlieren technique is used for quantitative analysis of the internal-wave parameters. It is shown that at small oscillation amplitudes, the wave pattern observed for circular oscillations is in good agreement with linear theory: internal waves are radiated in the wave beams passing through the first and third quadrants of a Cartesian coordinate system for the clockwise direction of the cylinder motion, and the intensity of these waves is twice the intensity measured for ‘St Andrew's cross’ waves generated by purely horizontal or vertical oscillations of the same frequency and amplitude. As the amplitude of circular oscillations increases, significant nonlinear effects are observed: (i) a strong density-gradient ‘zero-frequency’ disturbance is generated, and (ii) a region of intense fluid stirring is formed around the cylinder serving as an additional dissipative mechanism that changes the shape of wave envelopes and decreases the intensity of wave motions. In the same range of oscillation amplitudes, the wave generation by rectilinear (horizontal and vertical) oscillations is shown to be by and large a linear process, with moderate manifestations of nonlinearity such as weak ‘zero-frequency’ disturbance and weak variation of the shape of wave envelopes with the oscillation amplitude. Analysis of spatiotemporal images reveals different scenarios of transient effects in the cases of circular and rectilinear oscillations. In general, circular oscillations tend to generate disturbances evolving at longer time scales.