Estimation of kinetic energy dissipation from breaking waves in the wave crest region

JH Lee; JP Monty; J Elsnab; A Toffoli; AV Babanin; A Alberello

Journal article

Estimation of kinetic energy dissipation from breaking waves in the wave crest region

JH Lee, JP Monty, J Elsnab, A Toffoli, AV Babanin, A Alberello

Journal of Physical Oceanography | AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC | Published : 2017

DOI: 10.1175/JPO-D-16-0273.1

Abstract

Wave-induced turbulence due to breaking in the absence of surface shear stresses is investigated experimentally. A high-fidelity particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is used to measure the turbulence near the water surface, inside the wave crests. The spatial velocity vector fields of the breaking waves acquired from PIV provide accurate vertical velocity profiles near the air-water interface, as well as wavenumber velocity spectra beneath the breaking waves at different depths. These velocity spectra exhibit a Kolmogorov interval at high wavenumbers, indicating the presence of isotropic turbulence and permitting an estimation of energy dissipation rates. The depth dependence of dissip..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Will Junghoon Lee Author

Jason Monty Author

John Elsnab Author

Alessandro Toffoli Author

Related Projects (1)

COUPLING TROPICAL CYCLONE AND CLIMATE PHYSICS WITH OCEAN WAVES

It is argued that without accounting for the wave effects directly, the physics of large-scale air-sea interactions is inaccurate and incomp..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Australian Research Council for the financial support of this work. A.V.B. gratefully acknowledges funding for this study from the Australian Research Council 703 Discovery Grant DP130100227 and the U.S. Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-13-1-0278.