U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Nonlinear Internal Waves in Rotating Fluids

该奖项将支持麻省理工学院的W.K. Melville教授和法国格勒诺布尔Mecanique de Grenoble研究所的Dominique Renouard博士之间的合作研究。这项工作的主题是非线性内波在旋转系统中的传播。长非线性内波常见于海岸、海峡和峡湾。这些波浪是由流过各种地形的水流产生的，比如潮汐流。然而，目前在这些波的可用实验和数值模拟结果之间没有详细的一致。为了理解这个问题，提议的工作将包括在实验室中对旋转通道中产生的波进行调查，并开发理论模型来描述观测结果。流过岛屿的水流或旋转水道中的狭窄区域也将被研究。法国和美国的合作者已经就拟议的研究课题进行了相当长时间的非正式接触，并为即将进行的共同努力做了仔细的准备。大部分工作将在法国的科里奥利实验室进行，这是一个独特的设施。另一方面，美国研究人员的专业知识将有助于实验的设计和实施，以及与理论比较的数值解决方案的发展。这项工作可能对我们了解潮汐和海岸侵蚀有重要影响。

This award will support collaborative research between Professor W.K. Melville, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. Dominique Renouard of the Institut de Mecanique de Grenoble, France. The subject of this work is the propagation of nonlinear internal waves in rotating systems. Long nonlinear internal waves occur commonly on ocean coasts, sea straits, and fjords. These waves are generated by flows, such as tidal flows, over various kinds of topography. However, there is at present no detailed agreement between the available experiments on these waves, and results of numerical simulation. To understand this problem, the proposed work will involve an investigation of waves generated in a rotating channel in the laboratory, and the development of theoretical models to describe the observations. Flows past islands or constrictions in rotating channels will also be studied. The French and U.S. collaborators have been in informal contact on the subject of the proposed research for a considerable time, and have carefully prepared the joint effort to be pursued. The Coriolis Laboratory in France, at which much of the work will take place, is a unique facility. The expertise of the U.S. investigator, on the other hand, will contribute to the design and conduct of the experiments, and the development of numerical solutions for comparison with theory. This work may have important effects on our understanding of tidal flow and coastal erosion.