Laboratory study of energy transformation characteristics in breaking wave groups

The spilling-breaking waves that appear in chirped wave packets are studied in a two-dimensional wave channel. These waves are produced by superposing waves with gradually decreasing frequencies. The analysis focuses on the nonlinear characteristics, energy variation, and energy transformation during the evolution and breaking of wave groups. Ensemble empirical mode decomposition is used to analyze the non-breaking and breaking energy variations of the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). It is found that the third-order IMF component is a source of non-breaking energy dissipation and the second-order IMF, which represents a short wave group with a relatively higher energy content, is a primary source of the energy loss caused by wave breaking. Additionally, the findings reveal that among the three waves preceding the maximum crest, the wave closest to the maximum crest carried most of the energy. When wave breaking occurs, the energy dissipation caused by the wave breaking primarily originates from that wave. After wave breaking, whether it is the first breaker or subsequent breakers, the main energy dissipation occurs in a frequency range higher than the dominant frequency. This energy loss plays a significant role in increasing the energy of free waves. Moreover, a potential link between the number of carrier waves and wave breaking phenomena has been found. As the number of carrier waves increased, both the nonbreaking and breaking energy dissipation rates exhibited an overall increasing trend. The amount of nonbreaking energy dissipation was generally more than twice the breaking energy dissipation rate. For wave groups with more carrier waves, the modulation instability plays a significant role in generating larger waves. Furthermore, an analysis of the dominant frequency variations of the wave group before wave breaking suggests that wave breaking is not a sufficient condition for a frequency downshift in the wave spectra.