Numerical investigation of turbulence of surface gravity waves

TL;DR

This study numerically investigates surface gravity wave turbulence, revealing how spectral scaling varies with nonlinearity and forcing conditions, and identifies finite-size effects and bound waves as key factors influencing deviations from wave turbulence theory.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of wave turbulence spectra under various conditions, highlighting the roles of finite-size effects and bound waves in spectral deviations.

Findings

Spectra approach WTT solutions at high nonlinearity levels.

Spectral steepening occurs as nonlinearity decreases.

Finite-size effects are present across all cases, affecting energy flux.

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically study the wave turbulence of surface gravity waves in the framework of Euler equations of the free surface. The purpose is to understand the variation of the scaling of the spectra with wavenumber $k$ and energy flux $P$ at different nonlinearity levels under different forcing/free-decay conditions. For all conditions (free decay, narrow- and broadband forcing) we consider, we find that the spectral forms approach wave turbulence theory (WTT) solution $S_\eta\sim k^{-5/2}$ and $S_\eta\sim P^{1/3}$ at high nonlinearity levels. With the decrease of nonlinearity level, the spectra for all cases become steeper, with the narrow-band forcing case exhibiting the most rapid deviation from WTT. To interpret these spectral variations, we further investigate two hypothetical and disputable mechanisms about bound waves and finite-size effect. Through a tri-coherence analysis, we find that the finite-size effect is present in all cases, which is responsible for the overall steepening of the spectra and reduced capacity of energy flux at lower nonlinearity levels. The fraction of bound waves in the domain generally decreases with the decrease of nonlinearity level, except for the narrow-band case, which exhibits a transition at some critical nonlinearity level below which a rapid increase is observed. This increase serves as the main reason for the fastest deviation from WTT with the decrease of nonlinearity in the narrow-band forcing case.