Waves radiating from an object

In the last post, I showed you flow separation on a pylon in Elbe river. Remember?

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Flow separation at a pylon in Elbe river

Today, we are back at the same pylon, only that this time the tidal current is a lot less strong, but there is a lot of wind, so our focus is on wind-generated waves.

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Waves running towards the pylon and radiating radially away from the obstacle.

It might be admittedly a bit hard to see, but if you watch closely and use your imagination, you might be able to see the waves propagating towards the pylon and then being reflected and radiating radially outward from where they hit the pylon. Pretty fascinating!

Can you see the locally generated waves to the left of the pylon? All those tiny waves where the wind is funneled around the pylon?

 

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