Clustering of floaters by waves

2005/11/22 by Petr Denissenko, Denissenko, P., Gregory Falkovich +3
Engineering · #Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD) #FOS: Physical sciences #Ship Hydrodynamics and Maneuverability

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.nlin/0511044

openalex publication_date 2005/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We study experimentally how waves affect distribution of particles that float on a water surface. We show that clustering of small particles in a standing wave is a nonlinear effect with the clustering time decreasing as the square of the wave amplitude. In a set of random waves, we show that small floaters concentrate on a multi-fractal set.

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