Experimental Investigation of Droplet Generation by Post-Breaking Plunger Waves

Understanding the droplet cloud and spray dynamics is important for the study of the ocean surface and marine boundary layer. The role that the wave energy and the type of wave breaking play in the resulting distribution and dynamics of droplets are yet to be understood. The aim of this work was to generate violent plunging breakers in the laboratory and analyze the spray production post-breaking, i.e. after the crest of the wave impacts in the free surface. The droplet sizes and their dynamics were measured with imaging techniques and the effect of different wind speeds on the droplet production was also considered. It was found that the mean radius increases with the wave energy content and the number of large droplets (radius > 1 mm) in the vertical direction increases with the presence of wind. Furthermore, the normalized distribution of droplet sizes is consistent with the distribution of ligament-mediated spray formation. Also, indications of turbulence affecting the droplet dynamics at wind speeds of 5 m/s were found. The amount of large droplets (radius > 1 mm) found in this work was larger than reported in field studies.