Experimental study of three-wave interactions

among capillary-gravity surface waves

F. Haudin1, A. Cazaubiel1, L. Deike2, T. Jamin1, E. Falcon1 and M. Berhanu1
1 Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Cité, MSC, CNRS, UMR 7057, F-75 013 Paris, France
2Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA


Reference: Physical Review E 93, 043110  (2016)

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.93.043110
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.93.043110

Abstract:

In propagating wave systems, three or four-wave resonant interactions constitute a classical non-linear mechanism exchanging energy between the different scales. Here we investigate three-wave interactions for gravitycapillary surface waves in a closed laboratory tank. We generate two crossing wave-trains and we study their interaction. Using two optical methods, a local one (Laser Doppler Vibrometry) and a spatio-temporal one (Diffusive Light Photography), a third wave of smaller amplitude is detected, verifying the three-wave resonance conditions in frequency and in wavenumber. Furthermore, by focusing on the stationary regime and by taking into account viscous dissipation, we directly estimate the growth rate of the resonant mode. The latter is then compared to the predictions of the weakly non-linear triadic resonance interaction theory. The obtained results confirm qualitatively and extend previous experimental results obtained only for collinear wave-trains. Finally, we discuss the relevance of three-wave interaction mechanisms in recent experiments studying gravity-capillary turbulence.

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