AIR-FLOW OVER WIND WAVES AND SEA-SURFACE DRAG COEFFICIENT UNDER VERY STRONG WIND

Abstract

 This paper presents mechanical effects of a sea-surface drag reduction under strong wind and the contribution of wind speeds and wave parameters to the reduction. The wind turbulent boundary layer flows over waves were computed and the drag actually acting on wave surface was calculated. They were found that distinctive vortex structures induced by wave conditions are developed with increase of wind speed and the drag change depends on the structures, and that there is a great difference between the actual drag and the drag from current models.