On the influence of wave reflection on shoaling and breaking solitary Waves

Abstract

A coupled BBM system of equations is studied in the situation of water waves propagating over a decreasing fluid depth. A conservation equation for mass and also a wave breaking criterion, both valid in the Boussinesq approximation, are found. A Fourier collocation method coupled with a 4-stage Runge–Kutta time integration scheme is employed to approximate solutions of the BBM system. The mass conservation equation is used to quantify the role of reflection in the shoaling of solitary waves on a sloping bottom. Shoaling results based on an adiabatic approximation are analysed. Wave shoaling and the criterion of the breaking of solitary waves on a sloping bottom are studied. To validate the numerical model the simulation results are compared with reference results and a good agreement between them can be observed. Shoaling of solitary waves is calculated for two different types of mild slope model systems. Comparison with reference solutions shows that both of these models work well in their respective regimes of applicability.