Abstract
The dynamics of wind-generated water waves in the principal stage of the Phillips theory (Phillips, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 2, 1957, pp. 417–445) is investigated by a combined numerical and analytical approach. We perform a number of high-resolution direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent wind over initially calm water to capture the multistage generation of water waves. Detailed analyses are conducted to evaluate the Phillips theory in both physical space and wavenumber space. Numerical evidence is obtained for the existence of a principal stage when the surface elevation variance grows linearly with time. We further propose a random sweeping turbulence pressure–wave interaction model by introducing the random sweeping hypothesis of air pressure fluctuations to the Phillips theory, and obtain an asymptotic solution of the mean square of surface wave elevations over time. This asymptotic analysis captures the temporal oscillations of surface elevation variance in the principal stage, which is also confirmed by our DNS results. The wavenumber spectrum of surface wave elevations is analysed using a time-dependent norm to elucidate the role of the resonance mechanism on wave generation. In physical space, we use the random sweeping turbulence pressure–wave interaction model to obtain a quantitative prediction of the growth rate of surface elevation variance in the principal stage, which is found to agree with the DNS results better than the original Phillips model.
Highlights
The mechanism of how water surface waves are generated by wind forcing has been a research topic of interest for decades
Phillips (1957) argued that the convection of air turbulence pressure fluctuations at the water surface is responsible for early-stage wave generation and proposed a stochastic model, which predicts that the mean square of surface elevations, i.e. surface elevation variance, grows linearly with time
From the direct numerical simulation (DNS) results, we rigorously evaluate the Phillips theory in the principal stage, show convincing numerical evidence on its existence, and perform comprehensive analyses on the statistics of waves forced by wind
Summary
The mechanism of how water surface waves are generated by wind forcing has been a research topic of interest for decades. Phillips (1957) argued that the convection of air turbulence pressure fluctuations at the water surface is responsible for early-stage wave generation and proposed a stochastic model, which predicts that the mean square of surface elevations, i.e. surface elevation variance, grows linearly with time. These two pioneering works became cornerstones for the study of wind-wave generation and inspired many follow-up works. Lin et al (2008) conducted direct numerical simulation (DNS) of wave generation underneath a turbulent airflow and first captured the linear-growth rate in the principal stage of the wave generation process.
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