On Three-Dimensional Nonlinear Subharmonic Resonant Surface Waves in a Fluid: Part II—Experiment

A series of experiments have been performed to investigate wave motion in a rectangular container partially filled with water and shaken in a direction normal to the horizontal free water surface. For a (1-1) wave mode and for several water depths, the dependence of wave amplitude on both excitation frequency and excitation amplitude was found to be in good agreement with the predictions of the nonlinear theory in Part I. In general, at low wave amplitudes better agreement was observed when the surface tension was lowered by the addition of a surfactant. The experiments imply the existence of a critical water depth below which the frequency dependence of wave amplitude is qualitatively different than for depths greater than this critical.