ON THE PARTITION OF HORIZONTAL MOMENTUM BETWEEN VELOCITY AND PRESSURE COMPONENTS THROUGH THE TRANSITION REGION OF BREAKING WAVES

[摘要] When a water wave breaks, it undergoes a complicated interchange of total, depth integrated horizontal momentum between that part due to the velocity field and the part that can be assigned to the pressure distribution beneath the surface. This partition of total momentum for a strong, plunging breaker is described by a relatively crude model in which the horizontal velocity profile (over the vertical) is schematized in two layers and the pressure distribution is related to a hydrostatic distribution for the given water depth. An example calculation at four locations across the breaking transition region on a plane beach is utilized to demonstrate the principles of the model. The limitations of the approach which assumes momentum conservation in a reference frame moving with the wave celerity defined at the wave crest are presented, but await verification. The ultimate goal is a relatively simple model to predict the transition width of breaking waves (spillers, plungers and intermediate types) for plain and bar-trough beaches.

[学科分类] 建筑学

[关键词] breaking wave;transition region;horizontal momentum