Formation and decay of eddy currents generated by crossed surface waves

Abstract

The mass-transport induced by crossed surface waves consists of the Stokes and Euler contributions which are very different in nature. The first contribution is a generalization of Stokes drift for a plane wave in ideal fluid and the second contribution arises due to the fluid viscosity and it is excited by a force applied in the viscous sublayer near the fluid surface. We study the formation and decay of the induced mass-transport theoretically and experimentally and demonstrate that both contributions have different time scales for typical experimental conditions. The evolution of the Euler contribution is described by a diffusion equation, where the fluid kinematic viscosity plays the role of the diffusion coefficient, while the Stokes contribution evolves faster, feeling the additional damping near the system boundaries. The difference becomes more pronounced if the fluid surface is contaminated. We model the effect of contamination by a thin insoluble liquid film presented on the fluid surface with the compression modulus being the only non-zero rheological parameter of the film. Then the Euler contribution into the mass-transport becomes parametrically larger and the evolution of the Stokes contribution becomes parametrically faster. The parameter is the same in both cases and it is equal to the quality factor of surfaces waves, which is modified by the presence of a surface film. We infer the value of the compression modulus of the film by fitting the results of transient measurements of eddy currents and demonstrate that the obtained value leads to the correct ratio of amplitudes of horizontal and vertical velocities of the wave motion and is in reasonable agreement with the measured dissipation rate of surface waves.