Paper 3, Section II, B

Waves
Part II, 2015

Derive the ray-tracing equations for the quantities dki/dt, dω/dt\mathrm{d} k_{i} / \mathrm{d} t, \mathrm{~d} \omega / \mathrm{d} t and dxi/dt\mathrm{d} x_{i} / \mathrm{d} t during wave propagation through a slowly varying medium with local dispersion relation ω=Ω(k,x,t)\omega=\Omega(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{x}, t), explaining the meaning of the notation d/dt\mathrm{d} / \mathrm{d} t.

The dispersion relation for water waves is Ω2=gκtanh(κh)\Omega^{2}=g \kappa \tanh (\kappa h), where hh is the water depth, κ2=k2+l2\kappa^{2}=k^{2}+l^{2}, and kk and ll are the components of k\mathbf{k} in the horizontal xx and yy directions. Water waves are incident from an ocean occupying x>0,<y<x>0,-\infty<y<\infty onto a beach at x=0x=0. The undisturbed water depth is h(x)=αxph(x)=\alpha x^{p}, where α,p\alpha, p are positive constants and α\alpha is sufficiently small that the depth can be assumed to be slowly varying. Far from the beach, the waves are planar with frequency ω\omega_{\infty} and with crests making an acute angle θ\theta_{\infty} with the shoreline.

Obtain a differential equation (with kk defined implicitly) for a ray y=y(x)y=y(x) and show that near the shore the ray satisfies

yy0Axqy-y_{0} \sim A x^{q}

where AA and qq should be found. Sketch the shape of the wavecrests near the shoreline for the case p<2p<2.