Numerical Simulations of Peregrine Breathers Using a Spectral Element Model

Breather solutions to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation have been put forward as a possible prototype for rouge waves and have been studied both experimentally and numerically. In the present study, we perform high resolution simulations of the evolution of Peregrine breathers in finite depth using a fully nonlinear potential flow spectral element model.

The spectral element model can accurately handle very steep waves as illustrated by modelling solitary waves up to limiting steepness. The analytic breather solution is introduced through relaxation zones. The numerical solution obtained by the spectral element model is shown to compare in large to the analytic solution as well as to CFD simulations of a Peregrine breather in finite depth presented in literature.

We present simulations of breathers over variable bathymetry and 3D simulations of a breather impinging on a mono-pile.