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A strongly nonlinear long-wave approximation is adopted to obtain a high-order model for large-amplitude long internal waves in a two-layer system by assuming the water depth is much smaller than the typical wavelength. When truncated at the first order, the model can be reduced to the regularized strongly nonlinear model of Choiet al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 629, 2009, pp. 73–85), which lessens the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability excited by the tangential velocity jump across the interface in the inviscid Miyata–Choi–Camassa (MCC) equations. Using the second-order model, the next-order correction to the internal solitary wave solution of the MCC equations is found and its validity is examined with the Euler solution in terms of the wave profile, the effective wavelength and the velocity profile. It is shown that the correction greatly improves the comparison with the Euler solution for the whole range of wave amplitudes and no further correction is necessary for practical applications. Based on a local stability analysis, the region of stability for the second-order long-wave model is identified in the physical parameter space so that the efficient numerical scheme developed for the first-order model can be used for the second-order model.
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Strongly nonlinear effects on internal solitary waves in three-layer flows
We consider a strongly nonlinear long wave model for large amplitude internal waves in a three-layer flow between two rigid boundaries. The model extends the two-layer Miyata–Choi–Camassa (MCC) model (Miyata, Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium on Nonlinear Water Waves , eds. H. Horikawa & H. Maruo, 1988, pp. 399–406; Choi & Camassa, J. Fluid Mech. , vol. 396, 1999, pp. 1–36) and is able to describe the propagation of long internal waves of both the first and second baroclinic modes. Solitary-wave solutions of the model are shown to be governed by a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom. Emphasis is given to the solitary waves of the second baroclinic mode (mode 2) and their strongly nonlinear characteristics that fail to be captured by weakly nonlinear models. In certain asymptotic limits relevant to oceanic applications and previous laboratory experiments, it is shown that large amplitude mode-2 waves with single-hump profiles can be described by the solitary-wave solutions of the MCC model, originally developed for mode-1 waves in a two-layer system. In other cases, however, e.g. when the density stratification is weak and the density transition layer is thin, the richness of the dynamical system with two degrees of freedom becomes apparent and new classes of mode-2 solitary-wave solutions of large amplitudes, characterized by multi-humped wave profiles, can be found. In contrast with the classical solitary-wave solutions described by the MCC equation, such multi-humped solutions cannot exist for a continuum set of wave speeds for a given layer configuration. Our analytical predictions based on asymptotic theory are then corroborated by a numerical study of the original Hamiltonian system.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1634939
- PAR ID:
- 10128452
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Volume:
- 883
- ISSN:
- 0022-1120
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2019.795
