Streaming patterns in Faraday waves

TL;DR

This study investigates streaming flow patterns beneath Faraday waves, combining experiments and a 3D model to reveal complex flow behaviors influenced by boundary conditions and surface contaminants.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed experimental analysis of streaming patterns and develops a 3D theoretical model explaining their origin and variability in Faraday wave systems.

Findings

Identified three distinct streaming flow patterns.

Demonstrated that identical Faraday waves can mask different streaming flows.

Showed that boundary conditions and surface contaminants significantly affect streaming patterns.

Abstract

Waves patterns in the Faraday instability have been studied for decades. Besides the rich dynamics that can be observed on the waves at the interface, Faraday waves hide beneath them an elusive range of flow patterns --or streaming patterns-- which have not been studied in detail until now. The streaming patterns are responsible for a net circulation in the flow which are reminiscent of convection cells. In this article, we analyse these streaming flows by conducting experiments in a Faraday-wave setup. To visualize the flows, tracers are used to generate both trajectory maps and to probe the streaming velocity field via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). We identify three types of patterns and experimentally show that identical Faraday waves can mask streaming patterns that are qualitatively very different. Next we propose a three-dimensional model that explains streaming flows in quasi-inviscid fluids. We show that the streaming inside the fluid arises from a complex coupling between the bulk and the boundary layers. This coupling can be taken into account by applying modified boundary conditions in a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes formulation for the streaming in the bulk. Numerical simulations based on this theoretical framework show good qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental results. They also highlight the relevance of three-dimensional effects in the streaming patterns. Our simulations reveal that the variety of experimental patterns is deeply linked to the boundary condition at the top interface, which may be strongly affected by the presence of contaminants along the surface.