Observations and measurements of wave-induced drift of surface inextensible film in deep and shallow waters

The present study investigates the drift of two-dimensional floating surface films by both deep and shallow water waves in the laboratory. The focus is on the observations and measurements on the drift behavior and to clarify some outstanding issues. Thin polyethylene sheets with reflective markers were attached to simulate the inextensible surface films. Upon the initiation of a wave train, two infrared cameras recorded continuously the instantaneous position of the markers at 50 Hz. The temporal variation of the drift velocity was then determined by processing the recorded data. In all experiments, the drift velocity increased quickly in the beginning and reached a quasi-steady mean value. The magnitude of the surface drift typically increased with the longitudinal length of the polyethylene sheet until the sheet length was approximately the same as the wavelength. Lengthening the sheet length further did not lead to significant changes in the drift velocity. Under the shallow water condition, the wave-induced drift velocity increased linearly with the Ursell number and with a lower water depth.