Gravity wave turbulence revealed by horizontal vibrations of the container

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that horizontally vibrating the entire container in gravity-capillary wave turbulence results in a consistent spectrum exponent independent of forcing parameters, aligning better with theoretical predictions and showing a linear scaling with injected power.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental approach using spatially extended forcing that clarifies the influence of forcing on wave turbulence spectra and vessel shape effects.

Findings

Spectrum exponent is independent of forcing parameters with extended forcing.

Wave spectrum scales linearly with injected power.

Vessel shape influences the wave turbulence characteristics.

Abstract

We experimentally study the role of the forcing on gravity-capillary wave turbulence. Previous laboratory experiments using spatially localized forcing (vibrating blades) have shown that the frequency power-law exponent of the gravity wave spectrum depends on the forcing parameters. By horizontally vibrating the whole container, we observe a spectrum exponent that does not depend on the forcing parameters for both gravity and capillary regimes. This spatially extended forcing leads to a gravity spectrum exponent in better agreement with the theory than by using a spatially localized forcing. The role of the vessel shape has been also studied. Finally, the wave spectrum is found to scale linearly with the injected power for both regimes whatever the forcing type used.