Journal of Applied Mathematics

Mathematical Modeling of Marine Structures

Guest Editors: Carl M. Larsen, Armin Troesch, Celso P. Pesce, and Ioannis K. Chatjigeorgiou

Mathematical Modeling of Marine Structures

Journal of Applied Mathematics

Mathematical Modeling of Marine Structures

Guest Editors: Carl M. Larsen, Armin Troesch, Celso P. Pesce, and Ioannis K. Chatjigeorgiou

Copyright q 2012 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. This is a special issue published in Journal of Applied Mathematics. All articles are open access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Editorial Board
Saeid Abbasbandy, Iran Mina B. Abd-El-Malek, Egypt Mohamed A. Abdou, Egypt Subhas Abel, India Mostafa Adimy, France Carlos J. S. Alves, Portugal Mohamad Alwash, USA Igor Andrianov, Germany Sabri Arik, Turkey Francis T. Au, Hong Kong Olivier Bahn, Canada Roberto Barrio, Spain Alfredo Bellen, Italy J. Biazar, Iran Hester Bijl, The Netherlands James Robert Buchanan, USA Alberto Cabada, Spain Xiao Chuan Cai, USA Jinde Cao, China Alexandre Carvalho, Brazil Song Cen, China Qianshun S. Chang, China Shih-sen Chang, China Tai-Ping Chang, Taiwan Ke Chen, UK Xinfu Chen, USA Rushan Chen, China Eric Cheng, Hong Kong Francisco Chiclana, UK Jen-Tzung Chien, Taiwan Cheng-Sheng Chien, Taiwan Han H. Choi, Republic of Korea Tin-Tai Chow, China Md S. H. Chowdhury, Malaysia C. Conca, Chile Vitor Costa, Portugal Livija Cveticanin, Serbia Andrea De Gaetano, Italy Patrick De Leenheer, USA Eric de Sturler, USA Orazio Descalzi, Chile Kai Diethelm, Germany Vit Dolejsi, Czech Republic Magdy A. Ezzat, Egypt Meng Fan, China Ya Ping Fang, China Antonio J. Ferreira, Portugal Michel Fliess, France M. A. Fontelos, Spain Luca Formaggia, Italy Huijun Gao, China B. Geurts, The Netherlands Jamshid Ghaboussi, USA Pablo Gonz alez-Vera, Spain Laurent Gosse, Italy K. S. Govinder, South Africa Jose L. Gracia, Spain Yuantong Gu, Australia Zhihong Guan, China Nicola Guglielmi, Italy F. G. Guimar aes, Brazil Vijay Gupta, India Bo Han, China Maoan Han, Slovenia Pierre Hansen, Canada Ferenc Hartung, Hungary Tasawar Hayat, Pakistan Xiaoqiao He, Hong Kong Luis Javier Herrera, Spain Ying Hu, France Ning Hu, Japan Zhilong L. Huang, China Kazufumi Ito, USA Takeshi Iwamoto, Japan George Jaiani, Georgia Zhongxiao Jia, China Tarun Kant, India Ido Kanter, Israel Abdul H. Kara, South Africa Hamid R. Karimi, Norway Jae-Wook Kim, UK Jong H. Kim, Republic of Korea Kazutake Komori, Japan Fanrong Kong, USA Vadim A. Krysko, Russia Jin L. Kuang, Singapore Miroslaw Lachowicz, Poland Hak-Keung Lam, UK Tak-Wah Lam, Hong Kong P. G. L. Leach, UK Wan-Tong Li, China Yongkun Li, China Jin Liang, China Ching-Jong Liao, Taiwan Chong Lin, China Leevan Ling, Hong Kong Chein-Shan Liu, Taiwan Zhijun Liu, China Shutian Liu, China Kang Liu, USA Yansheng Liu, China Fawang Liu, Australia M. Z. Liu, China Juli an Lopez-G omez, Spain Shiping Lu, China Gert Lube, Germany Nazim I. Mahmudov, Turkey Oluwole D. Makinde, South Africa Francisco J. Marcell an, Spain Guiomar Mart n-Herr an, Spain Nicola Mastronardi, Italy Michael McAleer, The Netherlands Stephane Metens, France Michael Meylan, Australia Alain Miranville, France Jaime E. M. Rivera, Brazil Javier Murillo, Spain Roberto Natalini, Italy Srinivasan Natesan, India Jiri Nedoma, Czech Republic Jianlei Niu, Hong Kong Roger Ohayon, France Javier Oliver, Spain Donal ORegan, Ireland Martin Ostoja-Starzewski, USA Turgut Ozis,, Turkey

Claudio Padra, Argentina Reinaldo M. Palhares, Brazil Francesco Pellicano, Italy Juan Manuel Pena, Spain Ricardo Perera, Spain Malgorzata Peszynska, USA James F. Peters, Canada Mark A. Petersen, South Africa Miodrag Petkovic, Serbia Vu Ngoc Phat, Vietnam Andrew Pickering, Spain Hector Pomares, Spain Maurizio Porri, USA Mario Primicerio, Italy Morteza Rafei, The Netherlands B. V. Rathish Kumar, India Roberto Reno, Italy Jacek Rokicki, Poland Dirk Roose, Belgium Carla Roque, Portugal Debasish Roy, India Samir H. Saker, Egypt Marcelo A. Savi, Brazil Wolfgang Schmidt, Germany Eckart Schnack, Germany Mehmet Sezer, Turkey

Naseer Shahzad, Saudi Arabia Fatemeh Shakeri, Iran Hui-Shen Shen, China Jian Hua Shen, China Fernando Simoes, Portugal Theodore E. Simos, Greece A.-M. A. Soliman, Egypt Qiankun Song, China Xinyu Song, China Yuri N. Sotskov, Belarus P. J. C. Spreij, The Netherlands Niclas Stromberg, Sweden Ray KL Su, Hong Kong Jitao Sun, China Wenyu Sun, China XianHua Tang, China Marco H. Terra, Brazil Alexander Timokha, Norway Mariano Torrisi, Italy Jung-Fa Tsai, Taiwan Ch Tsitouras, Greece Kuppalapalle Vajravelu, USA Alvaro Valencia, Chile Erik Van Vleck, USA Ezio Venturino, Italy Jesus Vigo-Aguiar, Spain

Michael N. Vrahatis, Greece Mingxin Wang, China Baolin Wang, China Qingwen Wang, China Junjie Wei, China Li Weili, China Martin Weiser, Germany Frank Werner, Germany Shanhe Wu, China Dongmei Xiao, China Yuesheng Xu, USA Suh-Yuh Yang, Taiwan Jinyun Yuan, Brazil Alejandro Zarzo, Spain Guisheng Zhai, Japan Jianming Zhan, China Zhihua Zhang, China Jingxin Zhang, Australia Chongbin Zhao, Australia Shan Zhao, USA Renat Zhdanov, USA Hongping Zhu, China Xingfu Zou, Canada J. Hoenderkamp, The Netherlands

Contents
Mathematical Modeling of Marine Structures, Carl M. Larsen, Armin Troesch, Celso P. Pesce, and Ioannis K. Chatjigeorgiou Volume 2012, Article ID 127935, 2 pages Hydrodynamics of a Free Floating Vertical Axisymmetric Oscillating Water Column Device, S. A. Mavrakos and D. N. Konispoliatis Volume 2012, Article ID 142850, 27 pages Analysis of the Elastic Large Deection Behavior for Metal Plates under Nonuniformly Distributed Lateral Pressure with In-Plane Loads, Jeom Kee Paik, Ju Hye Park, and Bong Ju Kim Volume 2012, Article ID 734521, 17 pages Vibration of an Oshore Structure Having the Form of a Hollow Column Partially Filled with Multiple Fluids and Immersed in Water, Hsien-Yuan Lin, Jeng-Nan Lee, and Wen-Hao Sung Volume 2012, Article ID 158983, 16 pages Numerical Modelling of Oil Spills in the Area of Kvarner and Rijeka Bay The Northern Adriatic Sea , Goran Lon car, Gordana Beg Paklar, and Ivica Janekovi c Volume 2012, Article ID 497936, 20 pages On Nonlinear Simulation Methods and Tools for Evaluating the Performance of Ships and Oshore Structures in Waves, Shukui Liu and Apostolos Papanikolaou Volume 2012, Article ID 563182, 21 pages An Analytical Approach to the Analysis of Inhomogeneous Pipes under External Pressure, Massimiliano Fraldi and Federico Guarracino Volume 2012, Article ID 134896, 14 pages Numerical Prediction of Hydrodynamic Loading on Circular Cylinder Array in Oscillatory Flow Using Direct-Forcing Immersed Boundary Method, Ming-Jyh Chern, Wei-Cheng Hsu, and Tzyy-Leng Horng Volume 2012, Article ID 505916, 16 pages Metamodel-Based Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of a Deep-Sea Manganese Nodules Test Miner, Minuk Lee, Su-gil Cho, Jong-Su Choi, Hyung-Woo Kim, Sup Hong, and Tae Hee Lee Volume 2012, Article ID 326954, 18 pages Strength Analysis Modelling of Flexible Umbilical Members for Marine Structures, S. Svik and J. K. . Gjsteen Volume 2012, Article ID 985349, 18 pages Step Soliton Generalized Solutions of the Shallow Water Equations, A. C. Alvarez, A. Meril, and B. Valino-Alonso Volume 2012, Article ID 910659, 24 pages A Theoretical Approach to Predict the Fatigue Life of Flexible Pipes, Jos e Renato M. de Sousa, Fernando J. M. de Sousa, Marcos Q. de Siqueira, Lu s V. S. Sagrilo, and Carlos Alberto D. de Lemos Volume 2012, Article ID 983819, 29 pages

Simulation and Domain Identication of Sea Ice Thermodynamic System, Bing Tan, Peng Lu, Zhijun Li, Enmin Feng, and Juan Wang Volume 2012, Article ID 532870, 16 pages Numerical Simulation of Sloshing Phenomena in Cubic Tank with Multiple Baes, Mi-An Xue, Jinhai Zheng, and Pengzhi Lin Volume 2012, Article ID 245702, 21 pages Simulation of Wave Overtopping of Maritime Structures in a Numerical Wave Flume, Tiago C. A. Oliveira, Agust n S anchez-Arcilla, and Xavier Gironella Volume 2012, Article ID 246146, 19 pages Numerical Modeling of Tsunami Waves Interaction with Porous and Impermeable Vertical Barriers, Manuel del Jesus, Javier L. Lara, and Inigo J. Losada Volume 2012, Article ID 263839, 27 pages A Time-Domain Boundary Element Method for Wave Diraction in a Two-Layer Fluid, Ying Gou, Xin-jia Chen, and Teng Bin Volume 2012, Article ID 686824, 15 pages A Boundary Element Investigation of Liquid Sloshing in Coupled Horizontal and Vertical Excitation, De-Zhi Ning, Wei-Hua Song, Yu-Long Liu, and Bin Teng Volume 2012, Article ID 340640, 20 pages Ecient Fatigue Analysis of Helix Elements in Umbilicals and Flexible Risers: Theory and Applications, Geir Skeie, Nils Sdahl, and Oddrun Steinkjer Volume 2012, Article ID 246812, 22 pages A Ship Collision Analysis Program Based on Upper Bound Solutions and Coupled with a Large Rotational Ship Movement Analysis Tool, Herv e Le Sourne, Nicolas Besnard, Cedric Cheylan, and Natacha Buannic Volume 2012, Article ID 375686, 27 pages The Most Unstable Conditions of Modulation Instability, Aifeng Tao, Jinhai Zheng, Soe Mee Mee, and Botao Chen Volume 2012, Article ID 656873, 11 pages Simplied Analytical Method for Estimating the Resistance of Lock Gates to Ship Impacts, Lo c Buldgen, Herv e Le Sourne, and Philippe Rigo Volume 2012, Article ID 763849, 39 pages A Study on the Holding Capacity Safety Factors for Torpedo Anchors, Lu s V. S. Sagrilo, Jos e Renato M. de Sousa, Edison C. P. Lima, Elisabeth C. Porto, and Jane V. V. Fernandes Volume 2012, Article ID 102618, 18 pages

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Applied Mathematics Volume 2012, Article ID 656873, 11 pages doi:10.1155/2012/656873

Research Article The Most Unstable Conditions of Modulation Instability

Aifeng Tao,1, 2 Jinhai Zheng,2, 3 Soe Mee Mee,4 and Botao Chen2, 3
1

Key Laboratory of Coastal Disaster and Defence of Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China 2 College of Harbor, Coastal and Oshore Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China 3 State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China 4 Department of Port & Harbour Engineering, Myanmar Maritime University, Yangon 11000, Myanmar Correspondence should be addressed to Jinhai Zheng, jhzheng@hhu.eud.cn Received 20 January 2012; Revised 25 March 2012; Accepted 26 March 2012 Academic Editor: Celso P. Pesce Copyright q 2012 Aifeng Tao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Modulation instability is one of the most ubiquitous types of instabilities in nature. As one of the key characteristics of modulation instability, the most unstable condition attracts lots of attention. The most unstable condition is investigated here with two kinds of initial wave systems via a numerical high-order spectral method HOS for surface water wave eld. Classically, one carrier wave and a pair of sidebands are implied as the rst kind of initial wave system: seeded wave system. In the second kind of initial wave system: un-seeded wave system, only one carrier wave is implied. Two impressive new results are present. One result shows that the grow rates of lower and upper sideband are dierent within the seeded wave system. It means that, for a given wave steepness, the most unstable lower sideband is not in pair with the most unstable upper sideband. Another result shows the fastest growing sidebands are exactly in pair from unseeded wave system. And the most unstable conditions of unseeded wave system are more or less the mean value of those derived from the lower sidebands and upper sidebands within the seeded wave system.

1. Introduction
As a typical nonlinear mechanism, the modulation instability hereinafter referred as MI , also called Benjamin-Feir instability or self-modulation, has been observed and studied in numerous physical elds including water waves, plasma waves, laser beams, and electromagnetic transmission lines. As mentioned by Zakharov and Ostrovsky 1 , there are between one and two million entries on MI in any internet search websites, for example,

2
1.5 1 0 0.5 1 1.5 0 2 4 x /l
a
0

Journal of Applied Mathematics

1 0.8 ai /a0 6 8 10 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.5
b

0.5 /a
0

1 ki /k0

1.5

Figure 1: Sketch of initial surface elevation and wave number spectrum of Stokes modulated wave train for 0 0.05, k0 10, r 1 0.1, M 4, N 1024, T0 /t 64.

Yahoo. Even these references are not all equally relevant, the numbers are still enough to show the importance of MI. A recent usage of MI is to explain the possible reason for the occurrence of Freak waves 2 , which may cause catastrophic damage to oshore structures and surface vessels due to exceptionally large amplitudes 3 . From this viewpoint, the Freak waves will appear at modulation peaks along the water wave evolution process. And it is well known that the water wave evolution process will reach the modulation peak within shortest time duration if the initial condition satises the most unstable condition hereinafter referred as MUC . Generally, the MUC refers to the imposed wave train formed by a carrier wave and a pair of sidebands which will grow with the largest growth rate along the water wave evolution process. The latest comprehensive review and research work on MI we can refer to is Tulin and Waseda 4 . They reviewed nearly all the previous valuable works, including theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and physical experiments. Particularly, based on a series delicate experiments, they explained the dynamic mechanisms of the sideband behavior in both the breaking and nonbreaking cases. The MUC they used in the experiments is calculated based on Krasitskii equation 5 . They mentioned that the results from Krasitskii equation are dierent with the previous results from Benjamin and Feir 6 , Longuet-Higgins 7 and Dysthe 8 . But they did not discuss on that in details. The latest detailed experiments for MI were performed by Chiang 9 in a large wave tank 300 m long, 5.0 m wide, 5.2 m deep . The initial wave systems for his experiments are not only the imposed sidebands wave seeded but also uniform wave un-seeded . The initial uniform wave system has only the carrier wave. The sidebands will evolve and grow from background noises due to nonlinear wave interaction. As one of the Chiangs conclusions, the fastest growing modes of the naturally evolved sidebands in the experiments conrm the prediction of Tulin and Waseda 4 and that of LonguetHiggins 7 . However, it is just roughly conrmed, especially for wave steepness less than 0.17. Due to physical experiment facility limitations, which include the tank length and the sidewall damping, the carrier wave steepness of all the previous experiments results is large than 0.1. However, the energetic wave steepness in the ocean is in the vicinity 0.1 . Thus, it seems useful to do a detailed discussion on the determination of MUC. In Section 2, the theoretical background of MI and the related modulated wave train are summarized. Section 3 introduces the research approach via numerical HOS method. The detailed numerical results are present in Section 4. And some discussions are listed in the last section.

Journal of Applied Mathematics

2. Modulation Instability and Modulated Stoke Wave Train

Modulation instability MI , can also be called Benjamin and Feir instability, was discovered by Lighthill 10 , while it was proved analytically and validated experimentally by Benjamin and Feir 6 . The related milestone works have been reviewed by a lot of people, especially Tulin and Waseda 4 , as already mentioned. Basically, a Stokes wave train is unstable to the perturbations or noises due to MI. Specically, Benjamin and Feir 6 found that the unstable sideband components would grow exponentially with a time rate which depends on the dimensionless frequency dierence between the carrier wave and unstable sideband and the initial wave steepness. Usually, the modulated Stokes wave train is dened by 2.1 . As an example, the initial wave surface and the corresponding wave number spectrum are shown in Figure 1. x, 0 s x, 0 0 0 , k0 r k r a0 cos k x a0 ek cos k x r a0 cos k x , r k a0 ek cos k x . 2.1

s 0 0 , k0

Here, x, 0 and s x, 0 are the surface elevation and surface potential at initial time t 0. s 0 , k0 are calculated for the carrier wave according to Schwartz 11 with 0 0 , k0 and 0 respect to wave steepness 0 and wave number k0 . All the subscripts 0, , mentioned in this paper represent the carrier wave, upper sideband, and lower sideband, respectively. is the initial phase. It has been proved that the wave train evolution only vary with a phase combination 20 . r is the ratio between the amplitudes of the sideband and carrier wave. As the detailed discussion by Tao 12 , there are no fundamental dierent eects to the wave train evolution for dierent r and r . Then we dene r r r . According to results of Benjamin and Feir, MI works only when 2.2 is satised. r1 < 2 20 , 2.2

where r1 k/k0 , k k k0 k0 k and k is the wave number. For a given 0 , there should be a corresponding r1 which can induce the fastest sidebands growth and this can be called the most unstable condition MUC , which is the emphasis of this paper. Including the choice of MUC, there are still some parameters for the modulated Stokes wave train that need to be determined, including the normalized carrier wave number k0 , the nonlinear order of the carrier Stokes wave Ms , the ratio r between the sidebands amplitudes and the carrier wave, and the initial phase .

2.1. The Determination of k0

The determination of k0 is also related to numerical HOS method, which will be introduced in Section 3. In the calculation process of numerical HOS method, both the temporal and spatial parameters, including the wave numbers, have been normalized. Usually, the calculation domain is normalized to 2 . Then there would be 40 single harmonic waves present in the 40, as shown in Figure 1. In order to keep enough whole calculation domain 2 , if k0 precision for the depicture for the surface elevation in the physical domain, the number of wave modes N used in the numerical HOS method has to be large enough for large k0 , then

4
2.5 2 1.5 1 2.5 2 1.5 1

Journal of Applied Mathematics

M /a0

t/T0 = 655

t/T0 = 1058

t/T0 = 874

M /a0

400 k0 = 10 k0 = 20 k0 = 40
a

800 t/T0

1200

1600

1 k0 = 10 k0 = 20

1.5 M /a0 , k0 = 40

2.5

Figure 2: The maximum wave crest histories a and scatter diagram b of Stokes-modulated wave train for 0 0.05, r1 0.1 with dierent k0 10, 20 and 40.

the calculation time would increase. Fortunately, as discussed by Tao et al. 13 , there is no 3 . In another essential dierence for dierent k0 with the same r1 , at least for time to O T0 0 1, k0 20 and k 2 word, for 0 0.05 with MUC r1 0.1 , choosing k0 10 and k or k0 40 and k 4, there would be exact no dierence for investigation of the wave train evolution, as shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2 and the following paper, the maximum wave crest amplitude, denoted by M , is used frequently as a typical signal for the large wave. Due to this reason, the smallest k0 is selected in this research only if it can allow the most unstable condition can be satised.

2.2. The Selection of Ms

Physically, the initial wave train, even a monochromatic Cosine wave, can be adjusted to 1 . Dommermuth nonlinear wave train by the nonlinear water wave equations within O T0 0 14 has studied the adjustment process of numerical HOS method in details and he advised a considerable adjustment scheme in order to make the adjustment process smooth. To make sure the potential inuence results from dierent initial carrier wave, four cases are performed here. As shown in the left picture of Figure 3, there are no fundamental dierences for the dominant property of the wave train evolution. Although the carrier uniform cosine wave or lower Stokes wave do present the vibration phenomenon as shown in the right picture of Figure 3, there are nearly no dierence if the order of carrier Stokes wave, denoted as Ms , is higher than 3. Then in all the following research cases, Ms 4.

2.3. The Selection of the Amplitude Ratio r and Initial Phase

As mentioned by Tao 12 , if r is small enough, with an experimental criterion being r 0 < 0.02, there would be no dierent eects to the sideband growth rate. Obviously, for a give carrier wave, larger r corresponds to large system energy, then the recurrence period is shorter and the maximum wave height is larger. Although it would be more relevant to lab 0.1 is freak wave generation, it is not the emphasis of this paper. A general value r = r = r employed in the whole research of this paper.

Journal of Applied Mathematics

2.5 2 1.5 1 2.5 2 1.5 1

M /a0

M /a0

400

800 t/T0

1200

1600

1.5 M /a0 , Ms = 6 Uniform Ms = 2 Ms = 4

b

2.5

Uniform Ms = 2
a

Ms = 4 Ms = 6

Figure 3: The maximum wave crest histories a and scatter diagram b of Stokes-modulated wave train for 0 0.05, r1 0.1 with dierent initial carrier wave.

As one of the milestone works of modulation instability, Benjamin and Feir 6 showed 20 90 . Based on a fully that the initial phase corresponding to MUC is nonlinear irrational ow solver, Henderson et al. 15 mentioned that would be some value between 15 and 35 . Tao 12 reinvestigated the eects of initial phase and deduced the same result in Benjamin and Feir 6 . This point will be of further research in another paper related to MUC determination. However, the initial phase is of no concern here, since it only takes action to the occurrence time for the rst modulation peak and the recurrence period. There are no eects to the strength of the freak waves, which is the emphasis of this paper, as shown 45 in Figure 4. Then it does make sense to choose any initial phase. Simply, we use and 0 0 .

3. High Order Spectra Method and Necessary Calibration Processes

The main research approach here is a high-order spectral method, which was developed by Dommermuth and Yue 16 . This method is capable of following nonlinear evolution of a large number of wave modes N with a minimum computation requirement. For convenience, we call this approach as HOS. The method includes nonlinear interactions of all wave components up to an arbitrary order M in wave steepness. The computational eort is almost linearly proportional to M and the large number of wave modes N . Exponential convergence of the solution with M and N is also obtained. Unlike the phase-averaged and model-equation-based approaches, HOS accounts for physical phase-sensitive eects in a direct way. These include the initial distribution of wave phases in the wave-eld specied by wave spectrum and energy dissipation due to wave breaking. The validity and ecacy of HOS have been established in the study of basic mechanisms of nonlinear wave-wave interactions in the presence of atmospheric forcing 17 , long-short waves 18 , nite depth and depth variations 19 , submerged/oating bodies 20 , and viscous dissipation 21 . The feasibility of HOS to reveal the characteristics of MI has been fully proved by Dommermuth and Yue 16 . While the determination of some key parameters, including the nonlinear wave order M, the wave modes number N and the numerical integral time step t still need to be discussed in details.

6
2.5

Journal of Applied Mathematics

2 M /a0 1.5 1

400

800 t/T0

1200

1600

= 30 = 45 = 60

Figure 4: The maximum wave crest histories of Stokes modulated wave train for 0 dierent initial phases.

0.05, r1

0.1 with

A general approach for the determination of M, N, and t has been provided by Dommermuth and Yue 16 for practical computations. For a desired accuracy , M can be chosen to satisfy M . For example, M 4 can reach the accuracy 104 for 0.05 to 0.07. N and t can be got from the two tables provided by Dommermuth and Yue 16 . Based on this approach, ten numerical cases are performed to determine the suitable M, N, and t for this research. As shown in Figure 5, M 2 cannot capture the physical evolution process, while the results of M 3 and 4 are almost the same. Considering the accuracy, M 4 is employed here. From Figure 6, it can be seen clearly that all of these three cases can be used. N 1024 is selected here. All the chosen values of dt can satisfy the Courant condition 2 8x/ ; however, the precision depends on the evolution time, as shown in Figure 7. t T0 /t 64 is employed here.

4. Numerical Experiments and Results

In order to investigate the detailed information of MUC, two kinds of numerical experiments are performed based on HOS. The rst kind of initial wave system, hereinafter calling it seeded wave system, is formed by a carrier wave and a pair of sidebands. This corresponds to the imposed or seeded wave system in physical experiments. The second kind of initial wave system, hereinafter calling it un-seeded wave system, has only a carrier wave, while this carrier wave is calculated based on Stokes wave theory. This is similar to the uniform or un-seeded wave system in physical experiments. For the un-seeded wave system, the background noises in the tank are mainly from the multiple reections of the wave front, while those noises in the numerical experiments are from computer round of errors. Because there are no pure zero can be gotten from the computer. Even using the double-precision oating-point format, the zero is still stored as 1016 , as shown in Figure 8, which is the Fourier spectra of a un-seeded initial wave train for case 0 0.05. To show the background noise, the vertical Log coordinate is used. Based on the preliminary works listed in Sections 2 and 3 , some common parameters are selected for both kinds of initial wave systems listed in Table 1. There are nine cases

Journal of Applied Mathematics

3 2.5 M /a0 2 1.5 1 0 400 800 t/T0 M=2 M=3 M=4
a b

7
2.5 M /a0 , M = 3 1200 1600 2 1.5 1

1.5 M /a0 , M = 4

2.5

Figure 5: The maximum wave crest histories a and scatter diagram b of Stokes-modulated wave train for 0 0.05, r1 0.1, N 1024, T0 /t 64 with dierent M.

2.5 2 1.5 1

2.5 2 1.5 1

M /a0

400

800 t/T0

1200

1600

M /a0

1.5

2.5

M /a0 , N = 2048 N = 512 N = 1024

N = 512 N = 1024 N = 2048

a

Figure 6: The maximum wave crest histories a and scatter diagram b of Stokes-modulated wave train for 0 0.05, r1 0.1, M 4, T0 /t 64 with dierent N.
2.5 M /a0 , T0 /t = 64 2 1.5 1 2.5 2 1.5 1

M /a0

400

800 t/T0

1200

1600

1.5

2.5

M /a0 , T0 /t = 80 T0 /t = 64 T0 /t = 80

T0 /t = 32 T0 /t = 48
a

Figure 7: The maximum wave crest histories a and scatter diagram b of Stokes-modulated wave train for 0 0.05, r1 0.1, M 4, N 1024 with dierent t.

Journal of Applied Mathematics

Table 1: Common parameters for both kinds of numerical experiments.

k0 100

Ms 4

M 4

N 1024

T/t 64

Table 2: Parameters k/k0 for initial imposed wave system. 0 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 r1 0.04, 0.05, . . . , 0.13 0.06, 0.07, . . . , 0.15 0.08, 0.09, . . . , 0.17 0.10, 0.11, . . . , 0.19 0.12, 0.13, . . . , 0.21 0 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 r1 0.14, 0.15, . . . , 0.23 0.18, 0.19, . . . , 0.27 0.22, 0.23, . . . , 0.31 0.26, 0.27, . . . , 0.35

selected for both kinds. Each case is given a dierent carrier wave steepness, 0 0.05, 0.060.10, 0.12, 0.14, 0.16. Each seeded wave train evolution, with specic carrier wave steepness, is simulated with ten dierent sideband pairs to the rst modulation peak. The related parameters r1 and 45 and 0 k/k0 are listed in Table 2. In addition, the initial phases are selected as r 0.1 at 0 . The amplitude ratio between sidebands and carrier wave are selected as r t 0. In all realizations, the k0 selected as 100. Generally, the growth rates of sidebands need to be calculated and compared in order to get the fastest growing sideband. Here the growth rate satises: r t r t 0 exp t , 4.1

where the t t and used in this research is the angular frequency of carrier wave. This formula is transformed simply from the common space domain version. However, we nd that the growth rate is not so clear to show which sideband is faster, since it is not pure steady with the time varying, even just for the initial stage. For an example, we list the varying growth rate of lower and upper sideband for case 0 0.05 with k/k0 0.09 in Table 3. It is dicult to select the suitable time duration. So, instead of calculating the sidebands growth rates, the amplitude evolution processes for all the lower sidebands and upper sidebands are plotted together, respectively, for each case. Then the fastest growing sideband can be easily seen. For instance, we plot in Figure 9 the evolution processes of all the lower sidebands for case 0 0.06 before the rst modulation peak. In order to make the picture clearer, only the sidebands close to the fastest one are showed. Obviously, the fastest growing sideband can be captured directly. Particularly, Figure 9 reveals that the fastest growing lower sideband corresponds to r1 0.1, while the fastest growing upper sideband corresponds to r1 0.11. It is not in pair. According to this procedure, we can get the fastest growing sidebands for all the cases. The results together with typical previous results are plotted in Figure 10. In this gure, Dysthe 1979 is the result calculated by Dysthe based on a modied Nonlinear Schrodinger equation 8 . Tulin andWaseda 1999 refers to the results calculated by Tulin and Waseda 4 based on Krasitskii equation. Benjamin and Feir 1967 is the result calculated by Benjamin and Feir 6 based on the classical third-order Nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Chiang 2005 is the experiment results given by Chiang 9 . Lower from seeded and Upper from seeded are the results from this research. The former one is the MUC based on

Journal of Applied Mathematics

Table 3: The growth rates varying with time for case 0 Time Lower Upper Modulation peak 0.08 300 0.08 295 0.08 0.09 290115 0.09 110 0.08 0.05 with r1 95 0.08 0.08 0.09. 80 0.08 0.08 60 0.04 0.07

100 0.08

40 0.04 0.04

0 4 log(r+, ) 8 12 16

0.4

0.8 ki /k0

1.2

1.6

Figure 8: The Fourier spectra of the un-seeded initial wave system for case 0

0.05.

the comparison of lower sidebands. And the latter one is based on the comparison of upper sidebands. Clearly, the Upper from seeded matches both the theoretical result of Tulin and the experimental result of Chiang. For the un-seeded wave system, the fastest growing sidebands can be captured straightforwardly. For an example, we plot the evolution processes of all the naturally evolving sidebands for case 0 0.06 in Figure 11. It is quite easy to assure the fastest growing sideband is r1 0.11. Unlike the result from seeded wave system, the fastest growing lower sideband is in pair with the upper sideband perfectly for all the nine cases. The nal results are also plotted in Figure 10 in order to make a detailed comparison. From Figure 10, it is easy to conclude that the fastest growing sidebands from un-seeded wave system are more like the mean of that of the lower and upper sideband from seeded wave system.

5. Conclusions
Focusing the determination of the most unstable conditions for modulation instability, a series of numerical experiments were designed and performed via a robust phase-resolved numerical model HOS for the surface water wave eld. The key points of this paper can be divided into three parts. The rst is the detailed discussion for the parameters of both MI and HOS, such as the normalized carrier wave number k0 . The second is the numerical experiment design. In order to make a comprehensive comparison with previous works, both the seeded and un-seeded initial wave systems are investigated. The third, and also the main contribution, is that we nd two new results. One result shows that the grow rates of lower and upper sideband are dierent even at the very initial stage. It means that, for a given wave steepness, the most unstable lower sideband is not exactly in pair with the most unstable upper sideband. And the most unstable conditions derived from upper sidebands are more close to the previous results, including both the numerical and experimental results. Another result shows that the fastest growing sidebands are exactly in pair for the unseeded wave system. And the most unstable conditions of un-seeded wave system are

10
0.6 0.5 0.4 r 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 50 100 t/T0 r1 = 0.08 r1 = 0.09 r1 = 0.1
a

Journal of Applied Mathematics

0.6 0.5 0.4 r+ 0.3 0.2 150 200 0.1 0 50 100 t/T0 r1 = 0.08 r1 = 0.09 r1 = 0.1
b

150

200

r1 = 0.11 r1 = 0.12

r1 = 0.11 r1 = 0.12

Figure 9: The amplitude evolution processes of lower sidebands a and upper sidebands b for case 0 0.06.
0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 r1

0.04

0.08 0

0.12

0.16

0.2

Tulin and Waseda 1999 Dysthe 1979 Benjamin and Feir 1967 Chiang 2005

Lower from seeded Upper from seeded Lower and upper from unseeded

Figure 10: The MUC for dierent carrier wave steepness.

2E010 1.5E010 1E010 5E011 0 0 200 400 t/T0 r1 = 0.09 r1 = 0.1 r1 = 0.11
a

2E010 1.5E010 1E010 5E011 600 800 1000 0 0 200 400 t/T0 r1 = 0.12 r1 = 0.13 r1 = 0.09 r1 = 0.1 r1 = 0.11
b

r+

r+

600

800

1000

r1 = 0.12 r1 = 0.13

Figure 11: The sideband evolution processes from the background noise for un-seeded wave system with case 0 0.06.

Journal of Applied Mathematics

11

more or less the mean value of those derived from the lower sidebands and upper sidebands within the seeded wave system. For a suitable explanation of these results further detailed research is needed.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NSFC Grant no. 41106001, 509790335, 51137002, 51150110157 and JSNSF Grant no. BK2011026.

References
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