# Wave action (continuum mechanics)

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In continuum mechanics, wave action refers to a conservable measure of the wave part of a motion. [2] For small-amplitude and slowly varying waves, the wave action density is: [3]

Continuum mechanics is a branch of mechanics that deals with the mechanical behavior of materials modeled as a continuous mass rather than as discrete particles. The French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy was the first to formulate such models in the 19th century.

In mathematics, a conserved quantity of a dynamical system is a function of the dependent variables whose value remains constant along each trajectory of the system.

In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a disturbance of a field in which a physical attribute oscillates repeatedly at each point or propagates from each point to neighboring points, or seems to move through space.

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}={\frac {E}{\omega _{i}}},}$

where ${\displaystyle E}$ is the intrinsic wave energy and ${\displaystyle \omega _{i}}$ is the intrinsic frequency of the slowly modulated waves – intrinsic here implying: as observed in a frame of reference moving with the mean velocity of the motion. [4]

In physics, energy is the quantitative property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on, or to heat, the object. Energy is a conserved quantity; the law of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed. The SI unit of energy is the joule, which is the energy transferred to an object by the work of moving it a distance of 1 metre against a force of 1 newton.

In physics, a frame of reference consists of an abstract coordinate system and the set of physical reference points that uniquely fix the coordinate system and standardize measurements.

In colloquial language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers. Different concepts of average are used in different contexts. Often "average" refers to the arithmetic mean, the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are being averaged. In statistics, mean, median, and mode are all known as measures of central tendency, and in colloquial usage any of these might be called an average value.

The action of a wave was introduced by Sturrock (1962) in the study of the (pseudo) energy and momentum of waves in plasmas. Whitham (1965) derived the conservation of wave action – identified as an adiabatic invariant – from an averaged Lagrangian description of slowly varying nonlinear wave trains in inhomogeneous media:

In physics, action is an attribute of the dynamics of a physical system from which the equations of motion of the system can be derived. It is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory, also called path or history, of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths. Action has the dimensions of [energy]⋅[time] or [momentum]⋅[length], and its SI unit is joule-second.

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, and was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s. Plasma can be artificially generated by heating or subjecting a neutral gas to a strong electromagnetic field to the point where an ionized gaseous substance becomes increasingly electrically conductive, and long-range electromagnetic fields dominate the behaviour of the matter.

A property of a physical system, such as the entropy of a gas, that stays approximately constant when changes occur slowly is called an adiabatic invariant. By this it is meant that if a system is varied between two end points, as the time for the variation between the end points is increased to infinity, the variation of an adiabatic invariant between the two end points goes to zero.

${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}{\mathcal {A}}+{\boldsymbol {\nabla }}\cdot {\boldsymbol {\mathcal {B}}}=0,}$

where ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\mathcal {B}}}}$ is the wave-action density flux and ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\nabla }}\cdot {\boldsymbol {\mathcal {B}}}}$ is the divergence of ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\mathcal {B}}}}$. The description of waves in inhomogeneous and moving media was further elaborated by Bretherton & Garrett (1968) for the case of small-amplitude waves; they also called the quantity wave action (by which name it has been referred to subsequently). For small-amplitude waves the conservation of wave action becomes: [3] [4]

Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel through a surface or substance. A flux is either a concept based in physics or used with applied mathematics. Both concepts have mathematical rigor, enabling comparison of the underlying mathematics when the terminology is unclear. For transport phenomena, flux is a vector quantity, describing the magnitude and direction of the flow of a substance or property. In electromagnetism, flux is a scalar quantity, defined as the surface integral of the component of a vector field perpendicular to the surface at each point.

In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that produces a scalar field, giving the quantity of a vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point.

${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}\left({\frac {E}{\omega _{i}}}\right)+{\boldsymbol {\nabla }}\cdot \left[\left({\boldsymbol {U}}+{\boldsymbol {c}}_{g}\right)\,{\frac {E}{\omega _{i}}}\right]=0,}$  using  ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {A}}={\frac {E}{\omega _{i}}}}$  and  ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {\mathcal {B}}}=\left({\boldsymbol {U}}+{\boldsymbol {c}}_{g}\right){\mathcal {A}},}$

where ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {c}}_{g}}$ is the group velocity and ${\displaystyle {\boldsymbol {U}}}$ the mean velocity of the inhomogeneous moving medium. While the total energy (the sum of the energies of the mean motion and of the wave motion) is conserved for a non-dissipative system, the energy of the wave motion is not conserved, since in general there can be an exchange of energy with the mean motion. However, wave action is a quantity which is conserved for the wave-part of the motion.

The group velocity of a wave is the velocity with which the overall shape of the wave's amplitudes—known as the modulation or envelope of the wave—propagates through space.

The equation for the conservation of wave action is for instance used extensively in wind wave models to forecast sea states as needed by mariners, the offshore industry and for coastal defense. Also in plasma physics and acoustics the concept of wave action is used.

In fluid dynamics, wind wave modeling describes the effort to depict the sea state and predict the evolution of the energy of wind waves using numerical techniques. These simulations consider atmospheric wind forcing, nonlinear wave interactions, and frictional dissipation, and they output statistics describing wave heights, periods, and propagation directions for regional seas or global oceans. Such wave hindcasts and wave forecasts are extremely important for commercial interests on the high seas. For example, the shipping industry requires guidance for operational planning and tactical seakeeping purposes.

In oceanography, a sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height, period, and power spectrum. The sea state varies with time, as the wind conditions or swell conditions change. The sea state can either be assessed by an experienced observer, like a trained mariner, or through instruments like weather buoys, wave radar or remote sensing satellites.

Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics technology may be called an acoustical engineer. The application of acoustics is present in almost all aspects of modern society with the most obvious being the audio and noise control industries.

The derivation of an exact wave-action equation for more general wave motion – not limited to slowly modulated waves, small-amplitude waves or (non-dissipative) conservative systems – was provided and analysed by Andrews & McIntyre (1978) using the framework of the generalised Lagrangian mean for the separation of wave and mean motion. [4]

## Notes

1. WAVEWATCH III Model, National Weather Service, NOAA , retrieved 2013-11-14
2. Craik (1988 , pp. 98–110)

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