arXiv subjects

Jack Keeler

Publications and source records attributed to Jack Keeler.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Homoclinic-shedding in the steady forced water-wave problem

Recently, an infinite set of steady solitary-wave solution branches was discovered for inviscid and irrotational flow over a localised topographic depression. These solutions were restricted to critical flow, when the Froude number is unity. Several questions were raised, including i) what happens to the solution structure as the flow speed is continued into the supercritical regime? and ii) how does the decay rate of the topography affect the solution structure? In this article, we answer these questions by examining exact steady solutions of the fKdV model and numerical solutions of the fully nonlinear Euler system over i) trench, ii) Gaussian and iii) generalised Agnesi topographies. We uncover a highly non-trivial bifurcation structure consisting of spirals and closed loops, characterised by the phenomenon of `homoclinic shedding', where pairs of solitary waves are emitted up- and downstream as the amplitude is varied.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Parameter-free higher-order Schrodinger systems with weak dissipation and forcing

The higher-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation (Dysthe's equation in the context of water-waves) models the time evolution of the slowly modulated amplitude of a wave-packet in dispersive partial differential equations (PDE). These systems, of which water-waves are a canonical example, require the presence of a small-valued ordering parameter so that a multi-scale expansion can be performed. However, often the resulting system itself contains the small-ordering parameter. Thus, these models are difficult to interpret from a formal asymptotics perspective. This paper derives a parameter-free, higher-order evolution equation for a generic infinite-dimensional dispersive PDE with weak linear damping and/or forcing. Instead of focusing on the water-wave problem or another specific problem, our procedure avoids the complicated algebra by placing the PDE in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space and Taylor expanding with Frechet derivatives. An attractive feature of this procedure is that it can be used in many different physical settings, including water-waves, nonlinear optics and any dispersive system with weak dissipation or forcing. The paper concludes by discussing two specific examples.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Towards eliminating the nonlinear Kelvin wake

The nonlinear disturbance caused by a localised forcing moving at constant speed on the free surface of a liquid of finite depth is investigated using the forced Kadometsev-Petviashvili equation. The presence of a steady v-shaped Kelvin wave pattern downstream of the forcing is established for this model equation, and the wedge angle is characterised as a function of the Froude number. Inspired by this analysis, it is shown that the wake can be eliminated via a careful choice of the forcing distribution and that, significantly, the corresponding nonlinear wave-free solution is stable so that it could potentially be seen in a physical experiment. The stability is demonstrated via the numerical solution of an initial value problem for which the steady wave-free state is attained in the long-time limit.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Exact solutions for submerged von Kármán point vortex streets cotravelling with a wave on a linear shear current

New exact solutions are presented to the problem of steadily-travelling water waves with vorticity wherein a submerged von Kármán point vortex street cotravels with a wave on a linear shear current. Surface tension and gravity are ignored. The work generalizes an earlier study by Crowdy & Nelson [Phys. Fluids, 22, 096601, (2010)] who found analytical solutions for a single point vortex row cotravelling with a water wave in a linear shear current. The main theoretical tool is the Schwarz function of the wave and the work builds on a novel framework recently set out by Crowdy [J. Fluid Mech., 954, A47, (2022)]. Conformal mapping theory is used to construct Schwarz functions with the requisite properties and to parametrize the waveform. A two-parameter family of solutions is found by solving a pair of nonlinear algebraic equations. This system of equations has intriguing properties: indeed, it is degenerate, which radically reduces the number of possible solutions, although the space of physically admissible equilibria is still found to be rich and diverse. Inline vortex streets, where the two vortex rows are aligned vertically, there is generally a single physically admissible solution. However, for staggered streets, where the two vortex rows are horizontally offset, certain parameter regimes produce multiple solutions. An important outcome of the work is that while only degenerate von Kármán point vortex streets can exist in an unbounded simple shear current, a broad array of such equilibria are possible in a shear current beneath a cotravelling wave on a free surface.

physics.flu-dyn↗