Effect of wind turbulence on wave generation over a viscous liquid
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917227207327744 |
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| author | Mathis, Romain Cazin, Sébastien Methel, Jeanne Charru, François Magnaudet, Jacques Moisy, Frédéric Rabaud, Marc |
| author_facet | Mathis, Romain Cazin, Sébastien Methel, Jeanne Charru, François Magnaudet, Jacques Moisy, Frédéric Rabaud, Marc |
| contents | When wind blows over the surface of a viscous liquid, a clear transition from irregular small-amplitude streamwise-oriented wrinkles to well-defined nearly two-dimensional regular waves is observed at a critical wind velocity. We examine how free-stream turbulence in the air influences the growth of wrinkles and regular waves, as well as the transition between these two regimes. Experiments are carried out in a wind tunnel, in which air is blown over a tank filled with silicone oil whose viscosity is fifty times higher than that of water. The free-stream turbulence is enhanced using upstream grids, achieving relative turbulence intensities up to 8%. Surface deformations are measured using Free-Surface Synthetic Schlieren with micrometer accuracy. Velocity measurements are performed using hot-wire anemometry above the interface and particle image velocimetry in the liquid. Results reveal two primary effects of grid-enhanced free-stream turbulence: an increase in the wrinkle amplitude, and a reduction in the critical wind speed at the onset of regular waves. Nevertheless, the wrinkle-wave transition still corresponds to an approximately constant friction velocity. Similar to a classical boundary layer over a flat plate, the friction velocity is found to decrease with fetch. From a wave energy balance, we develop a qualitative model explaining why, with the highly viscous liquid considered here, this decrease in the friction velocity results in a non-monotonic variation of the wave amplitude with the fetch. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_20396 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Effect of wind turbulence on wave generation over a viscous liquid Mathis, Romain Cazin, Sébastien Methel, Jeanne Charru, François Magnaudet, Jacques Moisy, Frédéric Rabaud, Marc Fluid Dynamics When wind blows over the surface of a viscous liquid, a clear transition from irregular small-amplitude streamwise-oriented wrinkles to well-defined nearly two-dimensional regular waves is observed at a critical wind velocity. We examine how free-stream turbulence in the air influences the growth of wrinkles and regular waves, as well as the transition between these two regimes. Experiments are carried out in a wind tunnel, in which air is blown over a tank filled with silicone oil whose viscosity is fifty times higher than that of water. The free-stream turbulence is enhanced using upstream grids, achieving relative turbulence intensities up to 8%. Surface deformations are measured using Free-Surface Synthetic Schlieren with micrometer accuracy. Velocity measurements are performed using hot-wire anemometry above the interface and particle image velocimetry in the liquid. Results reveal two primary effects of grid-enhanced free-stream turbulence: an increase in the wrinkle amplitude, and a reduction in the critical wind speed at the onset of regular waves. Nevertheless, the wrinkle-wave transition still corresponds to an approximately constant friction velocity. Similar to a classical boundary layer over a flat plate, the friction velocity is found to decrease with fetch. From a wave energy balance, we develop a qualitative model explaining why, with the highly viscous liquid considered here, this decrease in the friction velocity results in a non-monotonic variation of the wave amplitude with the fetch. |
| title | Effect of wind turbulence on wave generation over a viscous liquid |
| topic | Fluid Dynamics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.20396 |