A simple laboratory experiment is designed to show the properties of internal solitary waves. The procedure and analysis are suited for a senior undergraduate laboratory course, though the techniques described may also be used for demonstration purposes in a fluid mechanics course. The measurements collected can be compared to the weakly nonlinear Korteweg–deVries (KdV) theory for the wave shape, lengthscale-amplitude relationship, and phase speed. The experiment provides a good introduction to internal solitary waves in the ocean, along with an exploration of error analysis and the limits of applicability of a theory.
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2007
American Association of Physics Teachers
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