Published in

Nonlinear Waves and Pattern Dynamics, p. 127-136

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-78193-8_8

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Aggregation of Fibers by Waves

Book chapter published in 2018 by Gautier Verhille, Patrice Le Gal ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Sea balls also called aegagropila, can be found on Mediterranean beaches. They are made of Posidonia fibers, which aggregate on the seabed due to the sea motions. To understand the mechanism of aggregation and compaction of these structures, we have performed a laboratory investigation on the dynamics of aggregation of fibers by surface gravity waves generated in a water tank. Amazingly, depending on the flexibility of the fibers, two different sites of aggregation are observed. Following our experiments, we propose an analytical derivation of the clustering of particles by the Stokes drift. This theoretical calculation is quite general and emphasizes the respective roles of the Stokes number and the density of the particles; it also underlines the importance of the fiber flexibility in their drift and explains our experimental observations.