Graduate Student Seminar | Subasha Wickramarachchi, Ripples formed due to asymmetric oscillatory flows - An overview of laboratory experiments, ripple geometries, and flow characteristics

MC 5417

Speaker

Subasha Wickramarachchi
Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo

Title

Ripples formed due to asymmetric oscillatory flows - An overview of laboratory experiments, ripple geometries, and flow characteristics

Abstract

In this talk, we consider some laboratory experiments that have been conducted to study the formation of ripples due to oscillatory flows in shallow water. In particular, for wavetank experiments with a sloping beach, it is found that asymmetric ripples are formed under progressive waves. At a much longer timescale, these ripples migrate in the direction of the progressive wave. The flow beneath these progressive waves have characteristics profiles often quantified by velocity and acceleration asymmetry. The ripple geometry have certain features related to the physical characteristic of sand (angle of repose) and the amplitude of the oscillatory flow.