Experimental and numerical investigation of pre-breaking and breaking vorticity within a plunging breaker

The characteristics of vorticity induced just prior and at the splash-down of a plunging breaker on a 1:10 planar slope have been studied using wave flume experiments and numerical simulations. Laboratory experiments involved detailed measurements in the outer surf zone of both fluid velocities below trough level, achieved by a fibre-optic laser-Doppler anemometer, and water surface elevations, obtained by an ultrasound probe. A Weakly-Compressible Smoothed Particle (WCSPH) model, coupled with a two-equation model for turbulent stresses, has been employed for the numerical simulations. A thorough calibration of the SPH’s numerical parameters has been first performed, through comparison between numerical and experimental wave elevation and velocity data. Then, considering that time-averaged laboratory data shows a significant vorticity beneath the free surface in the wave pre-breaking region, the vorticity generation mechanism has been thoroughly analyzed by means of the numerical model. In the attempt of explaining the generation of vorticity as induced by flow separation, we also inspected the role of the streamwise flow deceleration and surface-parallel vorticity flux. In analogy with the case of spilling breakers a cause-effect relation has been observed between streamwise flow deceleration and vorticity generation. Numerical findings are positively confirmed by the experimental results.