Resurrecting Dead-water Phenomenon

TL;DR

This paper revisits the dead-water phenomenon using modern experimental techniques, extending its understanding to complex stratified fluids and highlighting the nonlinear internal waves and their impact on boat dynamics.

Contribution

It provides new experimental insights into dead-water in complex stratifications and emphasizes the need for nonlinear modeling of wave-induced drag.

Findings

Dead-water persists in three-layer and stratified fluids.

Large amplitude nonlinear internal waves are observed.

Wave-induced drag modeling requires nonlinear analysis.

Abstract

We revisit experimental studies performed by Ekman on dead-water using modern techniques in order to present new insights on this peculiar phenomenon. We extend its description to more general situations such as a three-layer fluid or a linearly stratified fluid in presence of a pycnocline, showing the robustness of dead-water phenomenon. We observe large amplitude nonlinear internal waves which are coupled to the boat dynamics, and we emphasize that the modeling of the wave-induced drag requires more analysis, taking into account nonlinear effects.