Bottom friction effects on linear wave propagation

Bottom boundary layer effects on the linear wave propagation over mild slope bottoms are analyzed. A modified WKB approximation is presented including boundary layer effects. Within the boundary layer, two cases are considered: laminar (constant viscosity) and turbulent. Boundary layer effects are introduced by coupling the velocity inside the boundary layer to the irrotational velocity in the core region through the bottom boundary condition. This formulation properly accounts for the phase between near bed velocity and bed shear stress. The resulting differential equation for the energy conservation introduces a new term accounting for the energy losses due to the boundary layer effects. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.