Experimental results on the long-time spatial and temporal development of Triadic Resonance Instability

Various mechanisms have been cited as an explanation of how internal waves transfer energy across the wavenumber and frequency spectra and eventually contribute to small-scale turbulence and mixing. Triadic Resonance Instability (TRI) has become increasingly recognised as one of these methods. This talk will focus on new experimental investigation into the temporal and spatial evolution of this instability. Experiments have been conducted using a new generation of wave maker, featuring a flexible horizontal boundary condition which is driven by an array of independently controlled actuators. This allows for varying amplitude, frequency and wavelength in both the spatial and temporal domain. We present results utilising this ability to vary the forcing parameters during the course of an experiment and investigate what effects this has on the evolution of TRI.