ON THE BREAKING OF WATER WAVES OF FINITE AMPLITUDE ON A SLOPING BEACH,

Abstract

In recent paper Carrier + Greenspan showed that, within the framework of the non-linear shallow-water theory, there exist waves which do not break as they climb a sloping beach. The formation of a shock or bore is dependent on a variety of factors (wave shape, particle velocity) and, as yet, no general criteria for breaking have been found. Waves are considered which propagate shoreward into quiescent water; it is shown that any compressive wave (a wave of positive amplitude) which has a non-zero slope at the wave-front eventually breaks before reaching the coastline. In fact, an explicit relation is obtained between the initial conditions and the position where breaking occurs. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 06, 1958
Accession Number
AD0213613

Entities

People

  • H. P. Greenspan

Organizations

  • Harvard University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplitude
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Fluids
  • Mechanics
  • Particles
  • Shallow Water
  • Water
  • Water Waves
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Fluid Dynamics.