Laboratory work were conducted to investigate the behaviors of an internal solitary wave (ISW) in a two-layer free surface fluid system in a wave flume (12m¡Ñ0.5m¡Ñ0.7m) at the National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A series of fundamental experiments on wave generation, propagation and interaction with uniform slopes and topographic features were carried out in the flume with stratified two-layer fresh/brine water. Factors governing the experiments included the thickness ratio of the upper and lower layers H1/H2, interface difference

A novel method for integrating the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is presented. The moving boundary truncation (MBT) method is a time-dependent adaptive method that can significantly reduce the number of grid points needed to perform accurate wave packet propagation while maintaining stability. Hydrodynamic quantum trajectories are used to adaptively define the boundaries and boundary conditions of a fixed grid. The result is a significant reduction in the number of grid points needed to perform accurate calculations. A variety of model potential energy surfaces are used to evaluate the method. Excellent agreement with fixed boundary grids was obtained for each example. By moving only the boundary points, stability was increased to the level of the full fixed grid. Variations of the MBT method are developed which allow it to be applied to any potential energy surface and used with any propagation method. A variation of MBT is applied to the collinear H+H₂ reaction (using a LEPS potential) to demonstrate the stability and accuracy. Reaction probabilities are calculated for the three dimensional non-rotating O(³P)+H₂ and O(³P)+HD reactions to demonstrate that the MBT can be used with a variety of numerical propagation techniques. / text

Many problems in shallow water acoustics require accurate predictions of the acoustic field in space and time. The accuracy of the predicted acoustic field depends heavily on the accuracy of the inputs to the propagation model. Oceanographic internal waves are known to introduce considerable temporo-spatial variability to the water column, subsequently affecting the propagation of acoustic waves. As a result, when internal waves are present, errors in model inputs can significantly degrade the accuracy of the predicted acoustic field. Accurate temporo-spatial predictions of the acoustic field in the presence of internal waves therefore depend largely on one's ability to accurately prescribe the water column properties for the acoustic model. This work introduces a data-driven oceanographic model, named the evolutionary propagated thermistor string (EPTS) model, that captures the temporo-spatial evolution of the internal wave field along a fixed track, thereby permitting prediction of temporal fluctuations in the acoustic field. Simultaneously-measured oceanographic and acoustic data from the Office of Naval Research Shallow Water 2006 experiment are utilized in this work. Thermistor measurements, recorded on four oceanographic moorings spaced along the continental shelf, provide the data from which the EPTS model constructs the internal wave field over a 30 km track. The acoustic data were acquired from propagation measurements over a co-located path between a moored source and a vertical line array. Acoustic quantities computed in the model space, such as received level, depth-integrated intensity, and scintillation index are directly compared to measured acoustic quantities to evaluate the fidelity of the oceanographic model. In addition, a strong correlation is observed between the amplitude of the internal wave field and acoustic intensity statistics at a distant receiving array. It is found that the EPTS model possessed sufficient fidelity to permit the prediction of acoustic intensity distributions in the presence of nonlinear internal waves. / text

Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves propagate within the Earth-ionosphere waveguide with very little attenuation. Modifications of the waveguide geometry affect the propagation conditions, and hence, the amplitude and phase of VLF signals. Changes in the ionosphere, such as the presence of the D-region during the day, or the precipitation of energetic particles, are the main causes of this modification. Using narrowband receivers monitoring remote VLF transmitters, the amplitude and phase of these signals are recorded. A multivariate data analysis technique, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), is applied to the data in order to determine parameters such as seasonal and diurnal changes which affect the variation of these signals. Data was then analysed for effects from extragalactic gamma ray bursts, terrestrial gamma ray flashes and solar flares. Only X-rays from solar flares were shown to have an appreciable affect on ionospheric propagation. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

It is well known that surface water waves interact with fluid mud on the sea bed. Wave mud interaction results in high wave energy dissipation and mud mass transport. This kind of wave energy dissipation, which generally is much more significant than wave dissipation due to bottom friction, should be considered in the simulation of wave evolution and transformation in muddy coastal environments. In this research, a two-dimensional horizontal wave propagation and morphodynamic model for muddy coasts was developed. The model can be applied on a general three dimensional bathymetry of a soft muddy coast to calculate wave damping, fluid mud transport and resulting bathymetry change under wave action. In addition to the effect of wave-mud interaction on wave propagation, the dissipation due to wave-mud interaction was also implemented in SWAN (a third generation numerical model for Simulating WAves Nearshore) using a multilayered wave mud interaction model. These two models combined can be used for generation and propagation of waves in muddy coastal areas. The nonlinear constitutive equations of the visco-elastic-plastic model are adopted for the rheological behavior of fluid mud in this research. The results of the numerical model are compared against a series of wave-basin experiments, wave flume experiments and field observations. Comparisons between the simulated results with the both field and laboratory data reveal the capability of the proposed model to predict the wave transformation and mud mass transport. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-07-24 11:18:18.622

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No description available.

No description available.

Different types of breakwaters have been developed in the past for the protection of valuable coastal property, commercial activity and beach morphology. Among these, gravity-type breakwaters are the most common and provide good surface wave attenuation. However, these breakwaters are not always suitable due to their adverse impact on the coastal environment. To alleviate the problem, free surface breakwaters with a variety of caisson designs have been proposed and developed. The main advantages of such breakwaters are low capital cost, freedom from silting and scouring, short construction period, circulation of water beneath the breakwater and exertion of relatively low hydrodynamic forces on the structure as compared to conventional breakwaters. However, complete tranquillity on the lee side is not likely to occur due to wave energy transfer through the permeable parts of the breakwater. The degree of wave attenuation primarily depends on the configuration of the breakwater, the water depth and the incident wave conditions. The hydrodynamic performance of such free surface breakwaters is the subject of this thesis. Semicircular breakwaters mounted on a low-crested rubble mound structure were successfully built for harbour protection in Japan and China. However, the concept of having semicircular structures as free surface breakwaters has not yet been explored by the research community. As a result, this research is initiated with the aim of developing a free surface semicircular breakwater (SCB) that would serve as an anti-reflection barrier and provide reasonably good wave protection to coastal and marine infrastructures. To meet this research goal, a free surface SCB models were constructed and tested in a wave flume under various wave conditions. The experiments were conducted in three stages. For the first stage, the SCB model was initially tested without any perforations on the curved surface (i.e. a solid SCB) for different depths of immersion from the still water level in the wave flume. For the second stage, the front curved wall of the model was subsequently perforated with rectangular openings of different dimensions, producing front wall porosity of 9, 18 and 27%. Following this, two rows of rectangular openings near the crest of the rear curved wall were provided so as to facilitate water infiltration and escape of the run-up waves. For the third stage, additional effort was made to extend the draft of the breakwater by adding a wave screen at the front or/and rear. The screen porosity was 25, 40 and 50%. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the SCB models were investigated in both regular and irregular seas through a series of systematic experimental programme. The water surface elevations were measured at different locations upstream and downstream of the models to determine the coefficients of wave transmission (CT), reflection (CR) and energy dissipation (CL) as well as the wave climate coefficients in front and inside the breakwater chamber. The horizontal wave forces exerted on the SCB models and the wave screen(s) were also measured and subsequently normalised to yield the force coefficients in the analysis. These hydrodynamic coefficients for the respective test cases are presented and discussed in this thesis. The experimental results revealed that even though the solid SCB was a better wave attenuator than the perforated ones, it produced a considerable amount of wave reflection. The perforated SCB with 9% porosity of the front wall (denoted as SCB9) outperformed the other perforated breakwater models; however, it produced high wave transmission when the draft was limited and subjected to longer period waves. Hence, wave screens were added to further enhance the performance of the SCB9. The SCB9 with double screens of 25% porosity was found to provide the highest hydraulic performance. Empirical equations were developed using a multiple regression technique to provide design formulae for wave transmission, wave reflection and horizontal wave forces. The proposed empirical equations showed good agreement with the experimental data. These equations are intended to be of direct use to engineers in predicting the hydrodynamic performance of free surface SCBs. However, sensible engineering judgement must be taken while using these equations as they are based on small scale laboratory tests.

Vacuum microwave tubes, such as klystron, traveling-wave tube, gyrotron are high efficiency devices, where the RF interaction structure facilitates efficient energy transfer from the kinetic energy of the high energy electron beam to the electromagnetic wave. Traveling-wave Tube is the most versatile microwave power amplifier widely used for terrestrial communication, radar and aerospace applications. The waveguide based slow-wave structures like Millman, Karp, inter digital, grated waveguide, ring-plane, ring-bar, millitron and folded-waveguide structure gathered importance for application in millimeter-wave traveling-wave tubes. Among these millimeter-wave interaction structures, the folded-waveguide slow-wave structure became the most popular due to its robust structure, high power capability, low RF loss, simpler coupling, reasonably wide bandwidth and ease of fabrication for millimeter-wave to terahertz frequencies. Hence this thesis aims to analyse the folded-waveguide slow-wave structure for broad-banding and efficiency enhancement. The existing approaches for the analysis of cold circuit parameters (dispersion and interaction impedance characteristics) of folded-waveguide slow-wave structure are reinvestigated and found that these have limitation, as the effects of E-plane bend and beam-hole discontinuities are ignored in the parametric analysis. A cascaded matrix equivalent circuit model includes the effect of E-plane and beam-hole discontinuities for the analysis, but reported only for the serpentine folded-waveguide slow-wave structure. The cold test measurement technique was reported only for the dispersion characteristics. Hence the measurement technique has to be extended for the measurement of interaction impedance. The author proposes to orient the present doctoral work to (i) extend the proposed cascaded transmission matrix equivalent model for the analysis of rectangular folded-waveguide slow-wave structure, (ii) develop a non-resonant perturbation technique for the measurement of interaction impedance characteristics of the folded-waveguide slow-wave structure and also to (iii) establish new analysis models for the folded-waveguide slow-wave structure. The effect of E-plane bend and beam-hole discontinuities on the RF characteristics have been considered and simple, yet accurate closed form expressions for the computation of dispersion and interaction impedance characteristics have been established by three different approaches namely: transmission line equivalent circuit model, conformal mapping equivalent circuit model and quasi-TEM approach. The analysis results are benchmarked against 3-D electromagnetic modeling. The non-resonant perturbation theory is developed for the interaction impedance measurement. Typical Ka-band structures are fabricated by wire-EDM process and cold test measurements are carried out to benchmark the analysis approaches. The equivalent circuit models based on lumped circuit model are simpler than the cascaded matrix equivalent circuit model and can give closed form expressions for the prediction of dispersion and interaction impedance characteristics. The quasi-TEM approach can be extended for the complicated structure like ridge-loaded FWG-SWS. Broad-banding of the conventional folded-waveguide slow-wave structure is attempted by ridge-loading on the broad wall of the structure. The ridge-loaded folded-waveguide slow-wave structure is analyzed by parametric approach, cascaded transmission matrix equivalent circuit model and quasi-TEM approach and validated against numerical simulation. The analysis is extended for exploring the efficacy of the ridge-loading on broad-banding of the traveling-wave tube. Finally efficiency enhancement of the folded-waveguide slow-wave structure is attempted by introducing grating on the broad wall of the structure. The analysis is carried out by numerical simulation for exploring the efficacy of the grating on efficiency enhancement of the traveling-wave tube.