Stokes wave

In fluid dynamics, a Stokes wave is a nonlinear and periodic surface wave on an inviscid fluid layer of constant mean depth.
This type of modelling has its origins in the mid 19th century when Sir George Stokes – using a perturbation series approach, now known as the Stokes expansion – obtained approximate solutions for nonlinear wave motion.
Stokes's wave theory is of direct practical use for waves on intermediate and deep water. It is used in the design of coastal and offshore structures, in order to determine the wave kinematics. The wave kinematics are subsequently needed in the design process to determine the wave loads on a structure. For long waves – and using only a few terms in the Stokes expansion – its applicability is limited to waves of small amplitude. In such shallow water, a cnoidal wave theory often provides better periodic-wave approximations.
While, in the strict sense, Stokes wave refers to a progressive periodic wave of permanent form, the term is also used in connection with standing waves and even random waves.

Examples

The examples below describe Stokes waves under the action of gravity in case of pure wave motion, so without an ambient mean current.

Third-order Stokes wave on deep water

According to Stokes's third-order theory, the free surface elevation η, the velocity potential Φ, the phase speed c and the wave phase θ are, for a progressive surface gravity wave on deep water – i.e. the fluid layer has infinite depth:
where

x is the horizontal coordinate;
z is the vertical coordinate, with the positive z-direction upward – opposing to the direction of the Earth's gravity – and z = 0 corresponding with the mean surface elevation;
t is time;
a is the first-order wave amplitude;
k is the angular wavenumber, with λ being the wavelength;
ω is the angular frequency, where τ is the period, and
g is the strength of the Earth's gravity, a constant in this approximation.

The expansion parameter ka is known as the wave steepness. The phase speed increases with increasing nonlinearity ka of the waves. The wave height H, being the difference between the surface elevation η at a crest and a trough, is:
Note that the second- and third-order terms in the velocity potential Φ are zero. Only at fourth order do contributions deviating from first-order theory – i.e. Airy wave theory – appear. Up to third order the orbital velocity field u = ∇Φ consists of a circular motion of the velocity vector at each position. As a result, the surface elevation of deep-water waves is to a good approximation trochoidal, as already noted by.
Stokes further observed, that although the third-order orbital velocity field consists of a circular motion at each point, the Lagrangian paths of fluid parcels are not closed circles. This is due to the reduction of the velocity amplitude at increasing depth below the surface. This Lagrangian drift of the fluid parcels is known as the Stokes drift.

Second-order Stokes wave on arbitrary depth

The surface elevation η and the velocity potential Φ are, according to Stokes's second-order theory of surface gravity waves on a fluid layer of mean depth h:
Observe that for finite depth the velocity potential Φ contains a linear drift in time, independent of position. Both this temporal drift and the double-frequency term in Φ vanish for deep-water waves.

Stokes and Ursell parameters

The ratio ' of the free-surface amplitudes at [|second] order and [|first] order – according to Stokes's second-order theory – is:
In deep water, for large kh the ratio ' has the asymptote
For long waves, i.e. small kh, the ratio ' behaves as
or, in terms of the wave height and wavelength :
with
Here ' is the Ursell parameter. For long waves of small height H, i.e., second-order Stokes theory is applicable. Otherwise, for fairly long waves of appreciable height H a cnoidal wave description is more appropriate. According to Hedges, fifth-order Stokes theory is applicable for, and otherwise fifth-order cnoidal wave theory is preferable.

Third-order dispersion relation

For Stokes waves under the action of gravity, the third-order dispersion relation is – according to Stokes's first definition of celerity:
This third-order dispersion relation is a direct consequence of avoiding secular terms, when inserting the second-order Stokes solution into the third-order equations.
In deep water :
and in shallow water :
As [|shown above], the long-wave Stokes expansion for the dispersion relation will only be valid for small enough values of the Ursell parameter:.

Overview

Stokes's approach to the nonlinear wave problem

A fundamental problem in finding solutions for surface gravity waves is that boundary conditions have to be applied at the position of the free surface, which is not known beforehand and is thus a part of the solution to be found.
Sir George Stokes solved this nonlinear wave problem in 1847 by expanding the relevant potential flow quantities in a Taylor series around the mean surface elevation. As a result, the boundary conditions can be expressed in terms of quantities at the mean surface elevation.
Next, a solution for the nonlinear wave problem is sought by means of a perturbation series – known as the Stokes expansion – in terms of a small parameter, most often the wave steepness. The unknown terms in the expansion can be solved sequentially. Often, only a small number of terms is needed to provide a solution of sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes. Typical applications are in the design of coastal and offshore structures, and of ships.
Another property of nonlinear waves is that the phase speed of nonlinear waves depends on the wave height. In a perturbation-series approach, this easily gives rise to a spurious secular variation of the solution, in contradiction with the periodic behaviour of the waves. Stokes solved this problem by also expanding the dispersion relationship into a perturbation series, by a method now known as the Lindstedt–Poincaré method.

Applicability

Stokes's wave theory, when using a low order of the perturbation expansion, is valid for nonlinear waves on intermediate and deep water, that is for wavelengths not large as compared with the mean depth. In shallow water, the low-order Stokes expansion breaks down for appreciable wave amplitude. Then, Boussinesq approximations are more appropriate. Further approximations on Boussinesq-type wave equations lead – for one-way wave propagation – to the Korteweg–de Vries equation or the Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation. Like exact Stokes-wave solutions, these two equations have solitary wave solutions, besides periodic-wave solutions known as cnoidal waves.

Modern extensions

Already in 1914, Wilton extended the Stokes expansion for deep-water surface gravity waves to tenth order, although introducing errors at the eight order. A fifth-order theory for finite depth was derived by De in 1955. For engineering use, the fifth-order formulations of Fenton are convenient, applicable to both Stokes first and second definition of phase speed. The demarcation between when fifth-order Stokes theory is preferable over fifth-order cnoidal wave theory is for Ursell parameters below about 40.
Different choices for the frame of reference and expansion parameters are possible in Stokes-like approaches to the nonlinear wave problem. In 1880, Stokes himself inverted the dependent and independent variables, by taking the velocity potential and stream function as the independent variables, and the coordinates as the dependent variables, with x and z being the horizontal and vertical coordinates respectively. This has the advantage that the free surface, in a frame of reference in which the wave is steady, corresponds with a line on which the stream function is a constant. Then the free surface location is known beforehand, and not an unknown part of the solution. The disadvantage is that the radius of convergence of the rephrased series expansion reduces.
Another approach is by using the Lagrangian frame of reference, following the fluid parcels. The Lagrangian formulations show enhanced convergence, as compared to the formulations in both the Eulerian frame, and in the frame with the potential and streamfunction as independent variables.
An exact solution for nonlinear pure capillary waves of permanent form, and for infinite fluid depth, was obtained by Crapper in 1957. Note that these capillary waves – being short waves forced by surface tension, if gravity effects are negligible – have sharp troughs and flat crests. This contrasts with nonlinear surface gravity waves, which have sharp crests and flat troughs.
File:Stokes wave energy deep water.svg|thumb|right|300px|Several integral properties of Stokes waves on deep water as a function of wave steepness. The wave steepness is defined as the ratio of wave height H to the wavelength λ. The wave properties are made dimensionless using the wavenumber, gravitational acceleration g and the fluid density ρ.
Shown are the kinetic energy density T, the potential energy density V, the total energy density, the horizontal wave momentum density I, and the relative enhancement of the phase speed c. Wave energy densities T, V and E are integrated over depth and averaged over one wavelength, so they are energies per unit of horizontal area; the wave momentum density I is similar. The dashed black lines show 1/16 ² and 1/8 ², being the values of the integral properties as derived from Airy wave theory. The maximum wave height occurs for a wave steepness, above which no periodic surface gravity waves exist.
Note that the shown wave properties have a maximum for a wave height less than the maximum wave height.
By use of computer models, the Stokes expansion for surface gravity waves has been continued, up to high order by. Schwartz has found that the amplitude a of the first-order fundamental reaches a maximum before the maximum wave height H is reached. Consequently, the wave steepness ka in terms of wave amplitude is not a monotone function up to the highest wave, and Schwartz utilizes instead kH as the expansion parameter. To estimate the highest wave in deep water, Schwartz has used Padé approximants and Domb–Sykes plots in order to improve the convergence of the Stokes expansion.
Extended tables of Stokes waves on various depths, computed by a different method, are provided in.
Several exact relationships exist between integral properties – such as kinetic and potential energy, horizontal wave momentum and radiation stress – as found by. He shows, for deep-water waves, that many of these integral properties have a maximum before the maximum wave height is reached., using a method similar to the one of Schwartz, computed and tabulated integral properties for a wide range of finite water depths. Further, these integral properties play an important role in the conservation laws for water waves, through Noether's theorem.
In 2005, Hammack, Henderson and Segur have provided the first experimental evidence for the existence of three-dimensional progressive waves of permanent form in deep water – that is bi-periodic and two-dimensional progressive wave patterns of permanent form. The existence of these three-dimensional steady deep-water waves has been revealed in 2002, from a bifurcation study of two-dimensional Stokes waves by Craig and Nicholls, using numerical methods.