Stochastic Stokes' drift


Physical Review Letters 81 3136-3139 (1998)

Kalvis Jansons

Department of Mathematics, University College London.
Gower Street WC1E 6BT, ENGLAND.

G.D. Lythe

Centre for Nonlinear Studies
Los Alamos National Laboratory
NM87545, USA.

Abstract

Classical Stokes' drift is the small time-averaged drift velocity of suspended non-diffusing particles in a fluid due to the presence of a wave. We consider the effect of adding diffusion to the motion of the particles, and show in particular that a non-zero time-averaged drift velocity exists in general even when the classical Stokes' drift is zero. Our results are obtained from a general procedure for calculating ensemble-averaged Lagrangian mean velocities for motion that is close to Brownian, and are verified by numerical simulations in the case of sinusoidal forcing.
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