WAVE DISPERSION

Bilge TUTAK
November 03, 2020

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 WAVE DISPERSION
We can investigate the wave characteristics using the free surface boundary
conditions.
If we employ the KFSBC with the functions found for η and ϕ, we can nd a wave
propagation property.

∂η ∂ϕ
= − on z = 0
∂t ∂z

H g k sinh [k(h + z)]

ϕz = − sin (kx − σt)
2σ cosh (kh)

H (−σ)
ηt = − sin (kx − σt)
2

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 Then,

H g k sinh [k(h + z)] Hσ

sin (kx − σt) = sin (kx − σt) on z = 0
2σ cosh (kh) 2

Crossing out the same terms and using z = 0 the equation becomes,
2
σ = gk tanh(kh)

Which is known as the wave dispersion equation. The wave dispersion equation
shows and signi es the relationship between wave length and wave period k = L ,
2π

2π
σ =
T

2
2π 2π g
2
( ) = g tanh(kh) ⟹ L = T tanh(kh)
T L 2π

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This equation also shows that longer waves travel faster than shorter waves (dispersion
by frequency).
Wave dispersion equation is transcendental (function that depends on it self, k). The
solution requires an iterative solution technique.
If we write the equation as;
2
σ h 1
= tanh(kh)
g kh

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
k = np.arange(0.01, 3, 0.01)
T = 10.0
g = 10.0
h = 250.0
y = (2 * h * np.pi) / (T**2 * g)
h = g * T**2 / (2 * np.pi)
kh = np.arange(0.01, 3.0, 0.01)

plt.plot(kh, np.tanh(kh), label=r"$\tanh{(kh)}$")

plt.plot(kh, y/kh, 'r-.', label=r"$\frac{\sigma^2 h}{g}\frac{1}{kh}$")
plt.ylim([0, 2])
plt.xlabel("kh")
plt.legend()
plt show()
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 png

In the above gure, the intersection point will yield the solution of the dispersion
equation.
We can also solve the wave dispersion equation using an iterative method like Newton-
Raphson Method, where we have the function as;
2
σ h
f (kh) = − kh tanh (kh)
g
 With the Newton-Raphson Method we deal with function and its derivative.

f (xi )
xi+1 = xi −
′
f (xi )

Once the di erence between successive x s are below a certain treshold, we can stop
′

the iteration. |xi+1 − xi | < ε

WAVE DISPERSION WITH DEPTH

When a wave moves over a varying bottom depth, we need to solve the dispersion

equation to determine the wave propagation.

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 BASIC WAVE PARAMETERS
Wave celerity
2π
L σ
k
C = = =
2π
T k
σ

Then the dispersion becomes;

− −−−−−−− −
g g
2
C = tanh (kh) or C = √ tanh (kh)
k k

Also if we write de nition of k and σ in dispersion, we can obtain a relation between

L and T .

2 2
2π 2π gT
( ) = g tanh (kh) ⟹ L = tanh (kh)
T L 2π

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 DEEP WATER
If we check the plot of tanh (kh) we will see that it reaches to 1 at large kh values.
We can assume at deep water the kh value will be large. Therefore with the
asymptote value of tanh (kh) = 1, the dispersion relation becomes;
2
gT gT
L = L0 = and C = C0 =
2π 2π

The subscript 0 denotes deep water values

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 SHALLOW WATER
Similarly, if we check the plot of tanh (kh) we will see that it behaves linearly at small
kh values. We can assume at shallow water the asymptote value of tanh (kh) = kh,

and the dispersion relation becomes;

2
gT −−
L = (kh) ⟹ L = √ghT
2π

−−
C = √gh

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 EXAMPLE:
A wave in 200m water depth has a period of 7 s. Determine the wave celerity and
length?

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 SOLUTION:
Since we don’t know if the wave is in shallow or deep conditions, we need to start with
an assumption; Assuming the wave is in the deep water, then we can calculate deep
water wave length simply
2
gT
2
L0 = = 1.56 ∗ 7 = 76.44m
2π

Next we have to check if our assumption is correct. We know that for deep water
. Therefore
h 1
>
L 20

h 200 1
= = 2.61 >
L0 76.44 2

That means we started with the right assumption. Therefore if we calculate the
celerity,

gT
C0 = = 1.56 ∗ 7 = 10.92m/s
2π 11 / 13
 EXAMPLE:
A wave with 15s period propagated near shore to a depth of 3.4 m. Calculate the
wave celerity and length of wave at given depth?

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 SOLUTION
Since we don’t know if the wave is in shallow or deep conditions, we need to start with
an assumption; Assuming the wave is in the shallow water (considering the depth),
then we can calculate deep water wave length simply
−− −−−−− −−−
L = √ghT = √9.81 ∗ 3.4 ∗ 15 = 86.55m

Next we have to check if our assumption is correct. We know that for shallow water
= 0.05. Therefore
h 1
<
L 20

h 3.4
= = 0.039 < 0.05
L 86.55

That means we started with the right assumption. Therefore if we calculate the
celerity,
−− −−−−− −−−
C = √gh = √9.81 ∗ 3.4 = 5.77m/s

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In the cases that we cannot verify a deep or shallow water condition, that means the
wave is in intermediate water depth. Therefore we need to solve dispersion equation.
However, if you are doing hand calculations, it could be almost impossible to solve
the dispersion relation. Therefore in these types of cases we use a table called
“Gravity Wave Table (GWT)”, which is actually a generic table for di erent values of
kh, that can be used for calculations. A sample of the table is shown below. You can
nd more in the solved example questions.
h/L0 tanh(kh) h/L kh sinh(kh) cosh(kh) n
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 1.000
0.001 0.079 0.013 0.079 0.079 1.003 0.998
0.002 0.112 0.018 0.112 0.113 1.006 0.996
0.003 0.137 0.022 0.138 0.138 1.009 0.994
0.004 0.158 0.025 0.159 0.160 1.013 0.992
0.005 0.176 0.028 0.178 0.179 1.016 0.990
0.006 0.193 0.031 0.195 0.197 1.019 0.988
0.007 0.208 0.034 0.211 0.213 1.022 0.985
0.008 0.222 0.036 0.226 0.228 1.026 0.983
0.009 0.235 0.038 0.240 0.242 1.029 0.981
0.010 0.248 0.040 0.253 0.256 1.032 0.979
0.015 0.302 0.050 0.312 0.317 1.049 0.969
0.020 0.347 0.058 0.362 0.370 1.066 0.959
0.025 0.386 0.065 0.407 0.418 1.084 0.949

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