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Published July 1, 1983 | public
Journal Article Open

Interfacial progressive gravity waves in a two-layer shear flow

Abstract

Nonlinear interfacial gravity waves in a two-layer Boussinesq fluid are studied. In a previous paper, nonlinear waves on a vortex sheet separating two layers, each of constant density and velocity were considered. In the present paper the basic flow model consists of a constant vorticity upper layer bounded by a rigid surface and an irrotational lower layer of infinite depth with continuity of the unperturbed velocity at the density interface. Numerical solutions obtained from an exact formulation in terms of a complex-valued integral equation for the shape and local vortex-sheet strength of the wave profile are compared with results from a second-order Stokes expansion. It is found that the wave of maximum amplitude displays different geometrical features depending on the unperturbed flow parameters. These include waves containing an S-shaped section, waves with cusped crests and surface-constrained waves with long flat crests. Wave integral properties calculated, including the flux of momentum and energy in the wave propagation direction, showed monotonic variation with increasing wave amplitude.

Additional Information

Copyright © 1983 American Institute of Physics (Received 15 November 1982; accepted 23 March 1983)

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