Journal article

Experimental evidence of the modulation of a plane wave to oblique perturbations and generation of rogue waves in finite water depth

A Toffoli, L Fernandez, J Monbaliu, M Benoit, E Gagnaire-Renou, JM Lefèvre, L Cavaleri, D Proment, C Pakozdi, CT Stansberg, T Waseda, M Onorato

Physics of Fluids | AMER INST PHYSICS | Published : 2013

Abstract

We present a laboratory experiment in a large directional wave basin to discuss the instability of a plane wave to oblique side band perturbations in finite water depth. Experimental observations, with the support of numerical simulations, confirm that a carrier wave becomes modulationally unstable even for relative water depths k0h < 1.36 (with k the wavenumber of the plane wave and h the water depth), when it is perturbed by appropriate oblique disturbances. Results corroborate that the underlying mechanism is still a plausible explanation for the generation of rogue waves in finite water depth. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by European External Action Service


Funding Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme through the grant to the budget of the Integrated Infrastructure Initiative HYDRALAB IV within the Transnational Access Activities, Contract No. 022441. F.W.O. Project G.0333.09 and E.U. Project EXTREME SEAS (Contract No. SCP8-GA-2009-234175) are also acknowledged. L.F. and J.M. acknowledge the Hercules Foundation and the Flemish Government department EWI for providing access to the Flemish Supercomputer Center. L.C. acknowledges the support of the MyWave EU funded FP7-SPACE-2011-1/CP-FP Project.