INTRODUCTION TO INTERFACIAL WAVES

PROF. RATUL DASGUPTA TYPE OF COURSE : New | Elective | PG

Department of Chemical Engineering COURSE DURATION : 12 Weeks ( 26Jul 21-15 Oct 21 )
IIT Bombay EXAM DATE : 23 Oct 2021
PRE-REQUISITES : Introductory Transport Phenomena / Fluid Mechanics
INTENDED AUDIENCE : Chemical & Mechanical Engineering students
INDUSTRIES APPLICABLE TO : Industrial personnel working on two phase flows

COURSE OUTLINE :
The course is an introduction to the rich field of interfacial waves. The first half of the course prepares the
student for studying wave phenomena by introducing discrete mechanical analogues of wave
phenomena in fluid systems. The basic principles of normal mode analysis are introduced through
point-mass systems connected through springs. The second half of the course introduces basics of
interfacial waves viz. shallow and deep-water approximations, phase and group velocity, frequency and
amplitude dispersion etc.. The fundamental aspects studied in the course will be related to various
engineering applications continuously.

ABOUT INSTRUCTOR :
Dr. Ratul Dasgupta is an Associate Professor at the Chemical Engg. Department at IIT Bombay. He
completed his Ph.D. at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore and
was a postdoctoral fellow subsequently at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He has been on
the faculty at IIT Bombay since 2014. He works on interfacial waves, hydrodynamic stability and the
mechanics of amorphous materials employing a combination of theoretical and computational tools and
occasionally simple experiments.

COURSE PLAN :
Week-1: Introduction to waves and oscillations, Normal modes of linear vibrating systems with finite degrees
of freedom, Eigenmodes (shapes of oscillation) and frequencies
Week-2: Normal modes of a linear, N degree of freedom spring-mass system, continuum limit, linear wave
equation and normal modes
Week-3: Nonlinear pendulum: exact solution using elliptic integrals, amplitude dependence of frequency,
intro. to perturbation methods: regular and singular, Lindstedt-Poincare technique
Week-4: Damped harmonic oscillator, Duffing oscillator, method of multiple scales
Week-5: Parametric instability and the Kapitza Pendulum, Introduction to Floquet analysis; Capillary-gravity
waves on a fluid interface: governing equations and boundary conditions, Normal mode analysis, Deep and
shallow water approximations and dispersion relations.
Week-6: Phase and group velocity, Cauchy-Poisson problem for surface waves in deep water: 2D rectilinear
and cylindrical geometry, Standing and travelling waves, kinematic interpretation of group velocity; Waves on
a fluid cylinder, Rayleigh-Plateau instability, oscillations of a hollow filament.
Week-7: Normal modes of a liquid drop and bubble, Normal modes of compound drops
Week-8: Wind waves and the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, KH instability as a model for wind wave
generation, surface waves in an uniform flow due to an oscillatory pressure source at the surface
Week-9: Stokes wave in deep water, nonlinear travelling wave of constant form, stability of Stokes wave
(sideband instability), solitary waves, KdV equation and solitons
Week-10: Faraday instability on a fluid interface, subharmonic response, Floquet analysis, atomization from
Faraday waves
Week-11: Particle trajectories in water waves, Stokes drift, long surface gravity waves on inviscid shear
flows: Burns dispersion relation
Week-12: Shape and volume oscillations of bubbles, Minnaert frequency, Rayleigh-Plesset equation. (If time
permits) Kelvin wave pattern of ship wake in deep water and method of stationary phase, Resonant
interactions among water waves