Flow Dynamics and Bed Resistance of Wave Propagation over Bed Ripples

Abstract

The viscous, two-dimensional, free-surface flow induced by the propagation of nonlinear water waves over a rigid rippled bed was simulated numerically. The simulations were based on the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations subject to fully nonlinear free-surface boundary conditions and appropriate bottom, inflow, and outflow boundary conditions. The equations were properly transformed so that the computational domain became time-independent. A hybrid scheme was used for the spatial discretization with finite differences in the streamwise direction and a pseudospectral approximation with Chebyshev polynomials in the vertical direction. A fractional time-step scheme was used for the temporal discretization. Over the rippled bed, the wave boundary layer thickness increased significantly, while vortex shedding at the ripple crest generated alternating circulation regions over the ripple trough. The velocity of the Eulerian drift profile was opposite to the direction of wave propagation far above the ripples, whereas close to the bed, its magnitude was influenced by the ripples up to a height of about six times the ripple height above the ripple crest. The amplitude of the wall shear stress on the ripples increased with increasing ripple steepness, whereas the amplitude of the corresponding friction drag force on a ripple was insensitive to this increase. The amplitude of the form drag force attributable to the dynamic pressure increased with increasing ripple steepness; therefore, the percentage of friction in the total drag force decreased with increasing ripple steepness. The period-averaged drag forces on a ripple were very weak, while the influence of form drag increased with increasing ripple steepness.