Saturation of the Inverse Cascade in Surface Gravity-Wave Turbulence

E. Falcon1, G. Michel2, G. Prabhudesai3, A. Cazaubiel1, M. Berhanu1, N. Mordant4, S. Aumaître5, and F. Bonnefoy6

1Université de Paris, Univ Paris Diderot, MSC, UMR 7057 CNRS, F-75 013 Paris, France
2Sorbonne Université, IJLRA, UMR 7190 CNRS, F-75 005 Paris, France
3Ecole Normale Supérieure, LPS, UMR 8550 CNRS, F-75 205 Paris, France
4Université Grenoble Alpes, LEGI, UMR 5519 CNRS, F-38 000 Grenoble, France
5CEA-Saclay, Sphynx, DSM, URA 2464 CNRS, F-91 191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
6Ecole Centrale de Nantes, LHEEA, UMR 6598 CNRS, F-44 321 Nantes, France

Reference: Physical Review Letters 125, 134501 (2020)

URL: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.134501
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.134501

Abstract: We report on the observation of surface gravity-wave turbulence at scales larger than the forcing ones in a large basin. In addition to the downscale transfer usually reported in gravity-wave turbulence, an upscale transfer is observed, interpreted as the inverse cascade of weak turbulence theory. A steady state is achieved when the inverse cascade reaches a scale in between the forcing wavelength and the basin size, but far from the latter. This inverse cascade saturation, which depends on the wave steepness, is probably due to the emergence of nonlinear dissipative structures such as sharp-crested waves.

PDF file and Supplemental Material
 
Movies:

BassinMEDcutLow.mpeg (35s - 24Mo): Movie of the large-scale wave basin seen from the shore showing the wave makers, the wall at the opposite end, the probe array, and the control room. Weak random forcing conditions.

WeakForcingIMG_7799.mp4 (15s - 17Mo): Movie of the wave field seen from the shore. Weak random forcing conditions: Wave steepness 0.063 and narrow spectral bandwidth (1.8±0.2 Hz).

HigherForcingIMG_7800.mp4 (15s - 16Mo): Movie of the wave field seen from the shore. Higher random forcing conditions: Wave steepness 0.98 and narrow spectral bandwidth (1.8±0.2 Hz).


 
Return to main page