Author(s): Hai Zhu; Songping Mao; Decai Sun; Lingling Wang; Zhezhen Yu; Cheng Lin
Linked Author(s): Lingling Wang
Keywords: Internal solitary waves; Shoaling process; Internal wave breaking; Reynolds number effects
Abstract: Internal solitary waves (ISWs) ubiquitously exist in oceans and they also frequently occur in density stratified lakes. Numerous laboratory-scale physical experiments and numerical simulations have been carried out to explore the shoaling dynamics of ISWs on slope topographies. Detailed features during wave breaking have been investigated under relatively low Reynolds numbers, but for real ocean-scale or lake-scale scenarios with a much higher Reynolds number, laboratory-scale modeling is inadequate to capture the three-dimensional turbulent characteristics in the wave shoaling process. As a result, the Reynolds number effects during the shoaling process of ISWs traveling on uniform slopes are investigated by 3D numerical simulations. Scale effects due to different Reynolds numbers and three-dimensional characteristics during wave shoaling are explored and discussed. It is found that the maximum wave-induced velocities and energy loss are well related to Iribarren numbers and the extreme velocities, wave energy loss, and three-dimensionality of the flow field are all identified to be very sensitive to Reynolds numbers, indicating that traditional two-dimensional laboratory-scale modeling tools may be insufficient to accurately capture the shoaling mechanisms of ISWs.
Year: 2020