Mass transport in water waves

Abstract It was shown by Stokes that in a water wave the particles of fluid possess, apart from their orbital motion, a steady second-order drift velocity (usually called the mass-transport velocity). Recent experiments, however, have indicated that the mass-transport velocity can be very different from that predicted by Stokes on the assumption of a perfect, non-viscous fluid. In this paper a general theory of mass transport is developed, which takes account of the viscosity, and leads to results in agreement with observation. Part I deals especially with the interior of the fluid. It is shown that the nature of the motion in the interior depends upon the ratio of the wave amplitude a to the thickness d of the boundary layer: when a2/d2 is small the diffusion of vorticity takes place by viscous ‘conduction’; when a2/d2 is large, by convection with the mass-transport velocity. Appropriate field equations for the stream function of the mass transport are derived. The boundary layers, however, require separate consideration. In part II special attention is given to the boundary layers, and a general theory is developed for two types of oscillating boundary: when the velocities are prescribed at the boundary, and when the stresses are prescribed. Whenever the motion is simple-harmonic the equations of motion can be integrated exactly. A general method is described for determining the mass transport throughout the fluid in the presence of an oscillating body, or with an oscillating stress at the boundary. In part III, the general method of solution described in parts I and II is applied to the cases of a progressive and a standing wave in water of uniform depth. The solutions are markedly different from the perfect-fluid solutions with irrotational motion. The chief characteristic of the progressivewave solution is a strong forward velocity near the bottom. The predicted maximum velocity near the bottom agrees well with that observed by Bagnold.