W. G. Pritchard Lab Seminar - 109 Boucke Building

	     **September 26, 2001**
	
Recent Experimental Results on Fully Nonlinear 3D Surface 
Waves in Deep Water.

Diane Henderson

Department of Mathematics
Penn State University

Abstract:

The long-term goal of our present research is to to develop a
practical theory for inviscid, three-dimensional water waves of
finite amplitude in arbitrary depth.  We also intend to relate the
detailed dynamics of nonlinear, three-dimensional water waves to some
of the ocean-wave transport models that are used by oceanographers
today.  Our hope is to describe large amplitude nonlinear waves with
more accuracy, and to find a rigorous mathematical basis for the
validity of the transport models. At present we are attempting to
construct the basic building blocks of such a theory in the fully
nonlinear, three-dimensional regime.  In this talk, we will present
recent experimental results arising from this pursuit and describe
them within a theoretical framework that includes the fully
nonlinear, boundary value problem for water waves as well as
standard, and less standard, approximate models.