131

2008,20(2):131-136

FLEXURAL-GRAVITY WAVES DUE TO TRANSIENT DISTURBANCES IN

AN INVISCID FLUID OF FINITE DEPTH*

LU Dong-qiang, LE Jia-chun
Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China
DAI Shi-qiang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mechanics in Energy and Environment Engineering, Shanghai 200072, China,
E-mail: dqlu@shu.edu.cn

(Received August 13 2007, Revised February 25, 2008)

Abstract: The dynamic response of an ice-covered fluid to transient disturbances was analytically investigated by means of integral
transforms and the generalized method of stationary phase. The initially quiescent fluid of finite depth was assumed to be inviscid,
incompressible, and homogenous. The thin ice-cover was modeled as a homogeneous elastic plate. The disturbances were idealized
as the fundamental singularities. A linearized initial-boundary-value problem was formulated within the framework of potential flow.
The perturbed flow was decomposed into the regular and the singular components. An image system was introduced for the singular
part to meet the boundary condition at the flat bottom. The solutions in integral form for the vertical deflexion at the ice-water
interface were obtained by means of a joint Laplace-Fourier transform. The asymptotic representations of the wave motion were
explicitly derived for large time with a fixed distance-to-time ratio. The effects of the finite depth of fluid on the resultant wave
patterns were discussed in detail. As the depth increases from zero, the critical wave number and the minimal group velocity first
increase to their peak values and then decrease to constants.

Key words: waves, ice-cover, transient disturbances, asymptotic, group velocity

1. Introduction  dispersion relationship for flexural-gravity waves was

Very large floating structures in the offshore
region and the ice-cover in the polar region are usually
idealized as thin elastic plates in the theoretical
investigations [1-14]. Flexural-gravity waves occur at
the surface of a fluid covered by an elastic plate.
Asymptotic solutions for the transient flexural waves
due to disturbances in an inviscid fluid of infinite
depth were considered by Maiti and Mandal[10], Lu
and Dai [11]. A well-posed initial-boundary-value
problem was formulated by Lu and Dai [11]. The
 wave motions for large time with a fixed
* Project supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No.10602032), the Shanghai
Rising-Star Program (Grant No. 07QA14022), and the
Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (Grant No.
Y0103).
Biography: LU Dong-qiang (1972- ), Male, Ph. D., Associate
Professor
studied in detail in comparison with that for pure
gravity waves. It was found that there exists a minimal
group velocity and the wave system observed depends
on the moving speed of the observer. For an observer
moving with the speed larger than the minimal group
velocity, there exist two trains of waves, namely, the
long gravity waves and the short flexural waves, the
latter riding on the former.
In this article, the flexural-gravity waves
generated by an instantaneous line and point source
submerged in an inviscid fluid of finite depth are
considered. The asymptotic representations of the
distance-to-time ratio are derived for different regions.
The partition of region depends on the intrinsic group
velocities of the system under consideration. The
effect of finite depth on the wave system is studied.
The other kinds of impulsive concentrated
disturbances, for example, an instantaneous dynamic
132

load on the plate, an initial impulse on the surface of

the fluid, and an initial displacement of the ice plate, w]
can be dealt with by the method presented in this ) |t =0 = ] |t =0 = |t =0 = 0 (5)
article. The case with a point mass source can be
wt
studied by a straightforward application of the
Moreover, since the finite disturbance must die out at
procedure provided in Sections 2-3 and the method
infinity, it is required that ’) o 0 as z o f ,
given in Ref. [11].
which imposes the uniqueness on the problem
considered.
2. Mathematical formulation Now, let the entire solution be written as
Without loss of generality, a Cartesian coordinate
system is used, in which the z axis points vertically ) = ) S ( x , t , x0 ) + ) I ( x , t , x1 ) + ) R ( x , t )
upward while z = 0 represents the mean ice-water (6)
interface. Therefore, the governing equation is
where ) S and ) I are the velocity potentials due to
’ ) = M G ( x  x0 )G (t )
2
(1) the simple source at x0 and at x1 , respectively,
) R is a continuous function everywhere in the
where ) ( x , t , x0 ) is the velocity potential for the corresponding domain, which represents the effect of
perturbed flow, M is the constant strength of the ice-cover boundary, x1 is the image point of x0
simple source, x is a field point, x0 is the source with respect to the flat bottom z =  H and
point, and G ( ) is the Dirac delta function. For two- x1 = (0, z1 ) for two-dimensional case and
dimensional cases, x = ( x, z ) and x0 = (0, z0 ) with x1 = (0, 0, z1 ) for three-dimensional one, where
z0  0 while for three-dimensional cases, z1 = 2 H  z0 , and ) I is introduced to meet the
x = ( x, y, z ) and x0 = (0, 0, z0 ) . requirement of Eq.(4). For a line source in the
The linearized kinematic and dynamic ice-cover two-dimensional cases, there holds
conditions at z = 0 are given by
M­ 1 1½
w] w) ^) S
, )I` =  ®log , log ¾
2S ¯ r r1 ¿
= (2)
wt wz
M c +i f +f exp(i D x + st )
w) w 2]  2 ³ c i f
ds ³ dD <
U + U g] + D’ ] + U e h 2 = 0
4
(3) 8S i f k
wt wt

where ] is the vertical deflexion of the ice-water ^ exp  k z  z  ,exp  k z  z `

0 1 (7)
interface, U and Ue are the uniform densities of
the fluid and the plate, respectively, g is the where r = x  x0 , r1 = x  x1 , k = D , and c is
acceleration of gravity, D = Eh3 [12(1  Q 2 )] is the the Laplace convergence abscissa. Substitution of
Eq.(6) into Eq.(1) yields
flexural rigidity of the plate, and E , h , and Q are
the Young modulus, the thickness, and the Poisson
ratio of the plate, respectively. The bottom condition ’ 2) R = 0 (8)
at z =  H is given by
The boundary conditions at z = 0 can be re-written
w) as
=0 (4)
wz w] w) R w) S w) I
 = + (9)
where H is a positive constant. It is assumed that the wt wz wz wz
entire fluid is at rest for t  0 . Therefore, the initial
conditions at z = 0 are w) R w 2]
U + U g] + D’ 4] + Ue h 2 =
wt wt
 133

§ w) S w) I · D h Ue
U ¨ + ¸ (10) Z0 = gk , J= , V=
© wt wt ¹ Ug U
(18)
It follows from Eq.(7) that
To perform the k integration in Eq.(14), the
method of stationary phase is used for large t with a
w
wz
) S +) I  =0 (11) fixed x t [10,11,15]. The solutions for the stationary
z= H points, denoted by k j , are determined by

From Eqs.(4), (6), and (11) it follows that

w4 mn
=0 (19)
w) R wk
=0 (12)
wz z = H A straightforward derivation for Eq.(19) yields

x g 1/ 2
3. Asymptotic solutions  Cg = {k0  k 1/ 2 <
For two-dimensional cases, a combination of the t 2
Laplace transform with respect to t and a Fourier
transform with respect to x is introduced for [coth(kH ) + V k ] 3/ 2 (1+ J k 4 ) 1/ 2 <
{) R , ] } as
[(1+ 5J k 4 ) coth(kH ) + kH (1+ J k 4 )<
1 c +i f f
{) R , ] } = 2 ³ c i f
ds ³ dD exp(i D x + st )<
4S i f
csch 2 ( kH ) + 4V J k 5 ]} = 0 (20)

^ ) R
cosh > k ( z + H ) @ , ] ` (13) where C g (k , h, H ) = wZ wk is the group velocity and
k0 = gt 2 4 x 2 is the solution of Eq.(19) with h = 0
By substituting Eq.(13) into the Laplace-Fourier and H = +f , corresponding to the wave numbers of
transforms of boundary conditions (9) and (10), two the pure gravity waves in a fluid of infinite depth.
simultaneous algebraic equations are set up for the
unknown functions ) R and ] , which can be
readily solved. Consequently, the formal integral
expression for the displacement of ice-water interface
can be given as

1 2 2 +f
] = ¦¦ A exp  i t4 mn  dk
4S m =1 n =1 ³ 0
(14)

where

M [1+ coth(kH )][exp( kz0 ) + exp( kz1 )]

A( k ) = Fig.1 Group velocity curves C g with h = 0.01 m
2[coth( kH ) + V k ]
(15) For a graphical representation of the theoretical
x results, hereinafter, the following physical parameters
4 mn = (1) m +1 k + (1) n +1Z (16) given by Squire [1] are adopted: E = 5GPa , Q = 0.3 ,
t
U = 1024 kgm 3 , U e = 917 kgm 3 , and
ª 1+ J k 4 º
1/ 2
g = 9.8ms . Figure 1 shows the curves for the group
2

Z (k ) = « » Z0 (17) velocity Cg (k , h, H ) . It can be seen from Fig. 1 that

¬ coth( kH ) + V k ¼
once h and H are given, there exists a minimal
134

group velocity, denoted by Cg min = Cg (kc , h, H ) , at

w4 mn (kc )
which Eq.(20) has only one real positive root kc and 4 mn | 4 mn (kc ) + ( k  kc ) 
wk
Zccc = w 2Z (kc ) wk 2 = 0 . It is noted that
Z0cc = lim w Z (k ) wk = 0 . When Cg min  x t  Cg max ,
2 2
1 w 34 mn (kc )
k o0
( k  kc )3 (21)
where C g max = lim C g (k , h, H ) = gH , Eq.(20) has 6 wk 3
k o0

two real positive roots, k1 ( x t , h, H ) and Furthermore, according to Scorer [16], it is valid that
k2 ( x t , h, H ) with 0  k1  k2  +f . When
1/ 3
x t ! Cg max , Eq.(20) has only one real positive root, § 2 ·
] = ] c ~ Ac ¨¨ ¸¸ Ai( Z c ) cos  kc x  Zc t 
k2 . The values for k1 , k2 , and kc can be obtained © Zcccc t ¹
numerically from Eq.(20). (22)
The effects of depth variation on the critical
wave number kc and the minimal group velocity where
Cg min are shown in Figs.2 and 3, respectively. It can
Ac = A(kc ) , Zc = Z (kc ) (23)
be seen that as H increases from zero, kc and
Cg min first increase to their peak values and then 1/ 3
§ 2 ·
decrease to constants. Z c =   x  Zcct  ¨ ¸ (24)
© Zcccct ¹

and Ai( ) is the Airy function.

When Cg min  x t  C g max , the expansion for
the phase function near k j ( j 1, 2) is taken as

1 w 4 mn (k j )
2

4 mn | 4 mn (k j ) + (k  k j )2 (25)
2 wk 2

By a straightforward application of the method of

stationary phase, the asymptotic representation of
Fig.2 Critical wave numbers
Eq.(14) can be given as

] = ]1 + ] 2 (26)

where

Aj ª Sº
]j ~ 1/ 2
cos « k j x  Z j t + (1) j »
 2S Z cc t 
j
¬ 4¼
(27)

A j = A(k j ) , Z j = Z ( k j ) (28)
Fig.3 Minimal group velocities

When x t  C g min , Eq.(20) has no real roots, as w 2Z (k j )

Z ccj = (29)
shown in Fig.1. However, as x t is lower than wk 2
Cg min and is sufficiently close to Cg min , the phase As x t is sufficiently close to C g max , k1 and
function near kc may be expanded as Z1cc tend to zero. According to Mei [17]
, the phase
 135

function for small k may be expanded as x | xmax . The flexural-gravity waves at a given
instant are shown in Fig.5. It can be seen that there
x exists two critical positions for the flexural-gravity
4 mn = (1) m +1 k + (1) n +1 ( gH )1/ 2 <
t waves: xmin = C g min t and xmax = Cg max t . For
x d xmin and x | xmin , the wave profile is
ª k 3 H (1+ V H ) º
« k  + "» (30) predicted by Eq.(22). In this region, there is only one
¬ 6 ¼ gravity wave. For xmin  x  xmax , the wave
In this case, Eq.(25) is still used for k2 . Thus, for profile is predicted by Eq.(27). In this region, there are
Eq.(14), there holds two wave systems, the short flexural one and the long
gravity one. For xmax  x and x | xmax , the
] = ]1 + ] 2 (31) wave profile is predicted by Eq.(31). In this region,
the two waves decay as x increases.
where

a
]1 ~ Ai ^a [ x  ( gH )1/ 2 t ]` (32)
2

a = 21/ 3 ( gH ) 1/ 6 [ H (1+ V H )t ] 1/ 3 (33)

and ] 2 is given by Eq.(27).

Fig.5 Flexural-gravity waves with h = 0.01 m, H = 5 m,

M = 1 m, z0 = 0.1 m, and t = 5 s (1ʊ ] in Eq.(26),
2ʊ ] in Eq.(31), 3ʊ ] in Eq.(22), 4ʊ ] 1 in Eq.(27)
with h 0 , 5ʊ ] 1 in Eq.(32) with h = 0 )

For three-dimensional cases, the singular

component in Eq.(6) is

M M c +i f
Pure gravity waves with M = 0.5 m, z0 = 0.1 m, )S =  G (t ) =  ds <
16S3 i ³ c i f
Fig.4
and t = 5 s (1ʊ ] 1 in Eq.(27), 2ʊ ]  in Eq.(32), 4S r
3ʊ ]  in Eq.(27))
+f +f 1
³ ³ d D dE exp( K z  z0 + i F + st )
f f K
4. Discussion and conclusions (34)
When h = 0 , the problem considered here where K = D + E 2
and F = D x + E y . The
2

reduces to that for pure gravity waves in an inviscid

fluid of finite depth, for which Eq.(20) has only one
real positive root and C g max is the maximal group
velocity for the gravity waves. The gravity waves at a
given instant are shown in Fig.4. It can be seen that
there exists one critical position xmax = C g max t for
pure gravity waves. For x  xmax , the wave profile
is predicted by Eq.(27). For x | xmax
x t xmax , the wave profile is predicted by Eq.(32).
Two asymptotic solutions are in good agreement at
asymptotic solutions for waves due to a simple point
source can be obtained by a straightforward
application of the procedure provided in Section 3 and
the method presented in Ref. [11].
According to the relation between the moving
speed of an observer and the minimal group velocity
of waves on the fluids of finite depth with a thin
elastic plate, three asymptotic schemes are proposed
and for the phase function to derive the asymptotic
solutions for the waves by means of the
stationary-phase method. The components and spatial
136
distribution of the wave system are analyzed.
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