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Generation and reversal of surface flows by propagating waves

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 658–663 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ability to send a wave to fetch an object from a distance would find a broad range of applications. Quasi-standing Faraday waves on water create horizontal vortices1,2, yet it is not known whether propagating waves can generate large-scale flows—small-amplitude irrotational waves only push particles in the direction of propagation3,4,5. Here we show that when waves become three-dimensional as a result of the modulation instability, a floater can be forced to move towards the wave source. The mechanism for this is the generation of surface vortices by waves propagating away from vertically oscillating plungers. We introduce a new conceptual framework for understanding wave-driven flows, which enables us to engineer inward and outward surface jets, stationary vortices, and other complex flows. The results form a new basis for the remote manipulation of objects on fluid surfaces and for a better understanding of the motion of floaters in the ocean, the generation of wave-driven jets, and the formation of Lagrangian coherent structures.

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Figure 1: Wave fields and surface flows produced by the cylindrical wave maker.
Figure 2: Characteristics of the wave-driven inward and outward jets.
Figure 3: Surface flow patterns and wave fields produced by the conical wave maker.
Figure 4: Flow structure and floater trajectories in the near field of the conical wave maker.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (DP110101525). H.X. would like to acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE120100364). The authors thank K. Szewc for developing the code for the finite-time Lyapunov exponent analysis used to generate Fig. 4f, and M. Gwynneth for his help with experimental set-up. N.F. acknowledges the help of S. Ramsden of the National Computational Infrastructure, Vizlab, ANU with visualization of 3D flows and trajectories using the Houdini animation software. The research of G.F. was supported by the Minerva Foundation and the Binational Science Foundation (BSF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

    Horst Punzmann, Nicolas Francois, Hua Xia & Michael Shats

  2. Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

    Gregory Falkovich

  3. Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Moscow 127994, Russia

    Gregory Falkovich

Authors
  1. Horst Punzmann
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  2. Nicolas Francois
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  3. Hua Xia
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  4. Gregory Falkovich
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  5. Michael Shats
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Contributions

H.P., N.F. and M.S. designed and performed the experiments; H.X., N.F., G.F. and H.P. analysed the data. M.S. and G.F. wrote the paper. All authors discussed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Michael Shats.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Punzmann, H., Francois, N., Xia, H. et al. Generation and reversal of surface flows by propagating waves. Nature Phys 10, 658–663 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3041

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