B4.27

Waves in Fluid and Solid Media
Part II, 2001

Derive the ray-tracing equations governing the evolution of a wave packet ϕ(x,t)=\phi(\mathbf{x}, t)= A(x,t)exp{iψ(x,t)}A(\mathbf{x}, t) \exp \{i \psi(\mathbf{x}, t)\} in a slowly varying medium, stating the conditions under which the equations are valid.

Consider now a stationary obstacle in a steadily moving homogeneous two-dimensional medium which has the dispersion relation

ω(k1,k2)=α(k12+k22)1/4Vk1\omega\left(k_{1}, k_{2}\right)=\alpha\left(k_{1}^{2}+k_{2}^{2}\right)^{1 / 4}-V k_{1}

where (V,0)(V, 0) is the velocity of the medium. The obstacle generates a steady wave system. Writing (k1,k2)=κ(cosϕ,sinϕ)\left(k_{1}, k_{2}\right)=\kappa(\cos \phi, \sin \phi), show that the wave satisfies

κ=α2V2cos2ϕ\kappa=\frac{\alpha^{2}}{V^{2} \cos ^{2} \phi}

Show that the group velocity of these waves can be expressed as

cg=V(12cos2ϕ1,12cosϕsinϕ).\mathbf{c}_{g}=V\left(\frac{1}{2} \cos ^{2} \phi-1, \frac{1}{2} \cos \phi \sin \phi\right) .

Deduce that the waves occupy a wedge of semi-angle sin113\sin ^{-1} \frac{1}{3} about the negative x1x_{1}-axis.