Exponential asymptotics in unsteady and three-dimensional flows

Thesis

The behaviour of free-surface gravity waves on small Froude number fluid flow past some obstacle cannot be determined using ordinary asymptotic power series methods, as the amplitude of the waves is exponentially small. An exponential asymptotic method is used by Chapman and Vanden-Broeck (2006) to consider the problem of two-dimensional, steady flow past a submerged obstacle in the small Froude number limit, finding that a steady downstream wavetrainis switched on rapidly across a curve known as a Stokes line. Here, equivalent wavetrains on three-dimensional and unsteady flow configurations are considered, and Stokes switching causedby the interaction between exponentially small free-surface components is shown to play an important role in both cases.

The behaviour of free-surface gravity waves is introduced by considering the problem of steady free-surface flow due to a line source. A steady wavetrain is shown to exist in the far field, and the behaviour of these waves is compared to existing numerical results. The problem of unsteady flow over a step is subsequently investigated, with the flow behaviour formulated in terms of Lagrangian coordinates so that the position of the free surface is fixed. Initially, the problem is linearized in the step-height, and the steady wavetrain is shown to spread downstream over time. The position of the wavefront is determined by considering the full Stokes structure present in the problem. The equivalent fully-nonlinear problem is then considered, with the position of the Stokes lines, and hence the wavefront, being determined numerically. Finally, linearized three-dimensional free-surface flow past an obstacle is considered in both the steady and unsteady case. The surface is shown to contain downstream longitudinal and transverse waves. These waves are shown to propagate downstream in the unsteady case, with the position of the wavefront again determined by considering the full Stokes structure of the problem.

Authors: Lustri, C; Christopher Jessu Lustri

• Publication date: 2013
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-r50zd9qrm
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: Oxford University, UK
• Language: English
• Keywords: Free-surface flow; Water waves; Exponential asymptotics; Stokes Phenomenon
• Subjects: Approximations and expansions; Fluid mechanics (mathematics); Partial differential equations