Extracted from "Water Wave Mechanics for

4.6 PARTIAL STANDING WAVES Engineers and Scientists" by R.G. Dean and R.A.
Dalrymple
For the case just considered of pure standing waves, two waves of the same
period and height, but propagating in opposite directions, were superim-
posed, as one expects from the perfect reflection of an incident wave from a
vertical wall. Quite often in nature, however, when waves are reflected from
obstacles, not all of the wave energy is reflected; some is absorbed by the
obstacle and some is transmitted past the obstacle. For example, waves are
reflected from breakwaters and beaches; in each case wave energy is not
perfectly reflected. To examine this me that the incident wave
has a height Hi, but that the reflected wave has a smaller heig t H rand
different phase-thmrthcirrcident wave. I he wave periods of the inCioent ana
rerreeted waves will be the same. I he total wave profile seaward o(the
I (T- +t(
obstacle is then
(, , "0'
lIM-I'
U IA
,....: ~v.r<-
. Hi
rlt=-cos (kx -at ) +-cos(
Hr k x+at+E ) ~
(4.50a)
2 s·~db 2
where E is the phase ~duce by the reflection process. Ifthe water surface
v'Y

displacements are plotted, they appear as in Figure 4.7. Due to the imperfect
reflection, there are no true nodes in the wave profile.
Quite often in measuring wave heights in a wave tank, reflections occur
and it is necessary to be able to separate out the incident and reflected wave
heights. To do this, we rewrite 1]" using trigonometric identities.

1], = -Hi ( . kx'

k x cos at + Sill
cos Sill at )
2

+ H,(cOS (kx + E) COS at - sin (kx + E) sin at)

Grouping similar time terms,

2
t " '). 11
(6SV\l(oS.G-~
r::L.'

lit = [~i cos kx + ~, cos (kx + E)] COS at

Hi . kx H, . (k )].
+[ :2 Sill - :2 Sill X + E Sill at

or, for convenience, denoting the bracketed terms by /(x) and F(x),
1], = /(x) cos at + F(x) sin at
' (4.50b)
v--
v
Thus 1], is a sum of standing waves. To find the extreme values of 1], for any x,
that is, the envelope of the wave heights, denoted by the dotted lines in the
figure, it is necessary to find the maximas and minimas of 1], with respect to
time. Proceeding as usual by taking the first derivative and setting it equal to
zero to find the extremes yields

a1], = -/(x)a sin at + F(x)a cos at = 0 (4.51)

at
or
F(x)
tan (at)", = --
/(x)

-" -- .. -- .
./ ., .
.,(.'

Figure 4.7 Instantaneous water surface displacements and envelope in a partial

standing wave system.
 F(x)

-\j\~ (al)", Figure 4.8 Relationships among (at)m,

.+:.'" F(x), and I(x).
~-l. I(x)

II
Therefore, to find the maxima and minima of1]" (at)m is substituted into Eq.
~ (4.50a). Examining Figure 4.8, it is clear that
r-........ '- k
~)~ $'JJ\.~ (\)\0 cos (at)m = lex)
-t- ~ ,'J~, .,Y' ~
., V'- Yc \,'\.Y \J~-
.J12(x) + F2(x)

(1.1\11'" J
\.t
.I"'0/')
'" IX·'"' F(x)
sin (at)m = ----;:.:;;:::::===:=:::::;;=
1 JI2(x) + F2(x)
Substituting into Equation (4.50b),3 we have
12(x) + F 2(x) 2 ,
(rll)m = ± JI2(x) + F (x)
= (4.52) tt..)~
2
JI2(x) + F (x) )
Substituting for lex) and F(x) from Eq. (4.50b), it is seen readily that the vV'
extreme values of 1], for any location x are "iJ.fl ~

)2 + HH cos (2 k.x + E) }~i..!JY(4.53)

1/);:;/1 ~~
-'( [1]I(x)]m
2
= ±
2V( H)2
--.!.
2
+
(H
_r
"'-- ~ ~ ~ \l(j~
_ I_r eJ)

[1h(X)]m obviously varies periodically with x. At the phase positions ~

(2k.x 1 + E) = 2nn (n = 0, I, ... ), [1],(X)]m becomes a maximum of the envelope t /:
ffiW!
(1]t)max = !(H; + H r ), "' the quasi-antinodes (4.54) ill
whereas at the phase positions, (2k.x 2 + E) = (2n + l)n (n = 0, 1, ... ), the value
of[11t(X)]m becomes a minimum of the envelope:
(1],)min = !(H; - H r ), the quasi-nodes (4.55)
The distance between the quasi-anti node and node can be found by subtract-
ing the phases
(2kx2 + E) - (2k.x 1 + E) = (2n + l)n - 2nn

or·
2k(X2 - XI) = n
L
X2-Xl=-
4

3This exercise shows simply that the maximum and minimum of (A sin at + B cos at) are
± JA 2 + 8 2•
 For a laboratory experiment, where reflection from a beach or an obstacle is
present, if the amplitude of the quasi-antinodes and nodes are measured by
slowly moving a wave gage along the wave tank, the incident and reflected
wave heights are found simply from Eqs. (4.54) and (4.55) as
Hi = (I1t)max + (I1t)min (4.56)
H, = (I1t)max - (I1t)min (4.57)
The reflection coefficient of the obstacle is defined as

K, = H,/ (4.58)
Hi
~ Figure 4.9 presents such data for the case ofextremely small waves and nearly
perfect reflection. To find the phase E, it is necessary to find the distance from
origin to the nearest maximum or minimum XI, and to solve one of the
following equations:
1; . {2nn, n = 0, 1,2,... for the maximum
2I\.Xl + E=
(2n + I)n, n = 0, I, 2,. . . for the minimum
/ The reader should verify that the dynamic and hydrostatic pressure
under a partial standing wave system can be expressed as
p(X, z, t) = -pgz + pgKp (z)11 /

where lJ(x, t) and Kp(z) are given by Eqs. (4.50a) and (4.24), respectively.