Experiments on surface waves

Abstract

In this thesis laboratory experiments were done to determine the influence of the water depth, forcing frequency and topography of the water tank on surface waves and resonant frequencies. The most interesting topic of this thesis is the change in the topography of water tank, which was done by changing the tank length, putting a partitioning wall at a tilt and adding a slope or mountain. The partioning wall with a tilt increases the resonant frequencies with increasing angle of tilt and with increasing order of resonance. A slope was added to the tank to determine the influence on the frequency domains of the solitons and the surface elevation. For a small water depth no change in surface elevation was observed, but at a higher depth the surface elevation became larger for high forcing frequencies. Adding a mountain to the water tank lowers the resonant frequencies, that decrease the most in the middle of the water tank. Importantly it was found that the change in the location of node for the first resonant frequency was discrete and not symmetric contrary to the expectation of a linear and symmetric change.