Many oceanographers have conducted field experiments on internal waves in the South China Sea using SAR imagery, ADCP and CTD. The results arising from these field studies are mostly in terms of wave amplitudes and flow velocities. Despite schematic diagram depicting the orbits of water particle motion has been accepted for more than decades, evidence has not been available from field observations or laboratory experiments.
Laboratory experiments on water-particle motion were conducted on the propagation of elevation and depression ISW in a stratified two-layer fresh/brine fluid system in a steel-framed wave tank of 12 m long with cross section of 0.7 m high by 0.5 m wide. Numerical modeling was also performed using in put data identical to laboratory experiments.
Based on our results of the numerical and laboratory experiments, the velocity field displays significant vortex while an internal solitary wave (ISW) propagates on a flat bottom. The strong vortex appears in the region of wave crest or trough. The track of fluid particle velocity in the upper layer is asymmetric and is moving in the opposite direction to that in the lower layer. The maximum horizontal velocity occurs at the crest of an elevation ISW and at the trough of a depression ISW. However, no horizontal flow is found on the interface of the still water level, and no vertical velocity at the wave peak. The vertical and horizontal velocities are antecedent with the water depth. For an elevation ISW, the maximum horizontal velocity appears in the lower layer, and vice versa for a depression ISW. The direction of the horizontal velocity in the upper layer is opposite to that in the lower layer.
This study presents the results of numerical calculations and laboratory observations of the particles originally resting on a specific level and their movements within an ISW. The finding generated from this research would benefit others on the verification of field results or analytical theory for fluid particle motions associated with ISW.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0704108-142141 |
| Date | 04 July 2008 |
| Creators | Wang, Wei-Hung |
| Contributors | YuHuai Wang, John Rong Chung HSU, GUAN-YU CHEN |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0704108-142141 |
| Rights | campus_withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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