Waveform deformation and breaking are widespread phenomena when internal solitary waves (ISWs) encounter changing topographies, which have been observed in many parts of oceans. In this study, experiments are performed in a series of combinations of bottom step topographies with different heights and ISWs in different amplitudes within a two-layer stratified fluid system. According to experimental results, the evolution processes of ISWs over the bottom step are classified into four typical regimes as the wave–step interaction varying from weak to strong, which are the transmission regime, transitional regime, breaking regime, and reflection regime, corresponding to the evolution patterns of steady passage, deformation, breaking, and strong reflection, respectively. To describe the intensity of wave–step interaction, a new improved interaction parameter is proposed, which takes both relative amplitude of ISWs and relative topography changes into consideration, and achieved better effectiveness in defining the boundaries between different regimes. In terms of energy properties, with the wave–step interaction becoming stronger, the transmission ratio keeps decreasing throughout all regimes, while the reflection wave starts to appear since the breaking regime and its energy keeps increasing. At the critical point between the breaking regime and reflection regime, the reflection ratio equals the transmission ratio, and the energy loss ratio reaches its maximum.

Internal solitary waves (ISWs) are a well-known phenomenon of water motion in the ocean, and their strong shear flow has a non-negligible harm to underwater marine engineering structures. To clarify the variation law of flow field and force during the interaction between ISW and common marine engineering structures-hydrofoils, in this paper, the spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) method is introduced into the ISW problem for the first time. The advantage of this method is that it can display the flow field information in the frequency domain, and we obtained the flow field structure in the frequency domain during the whole flow process and mode 1 at the primary frequency with this method. We also obtained the time evolution flow field and force data through the particle image velocimetry technology and force sensor. The results show that the characteristics of flow field described by time domain and frequency domain show good consistency. According to the analyses results, we divide the flow process into low-frequency steady state and high-frequency disturbance. Most notably, we use the SPOD method to find that the sub-peak threshold of the flow frequency is surprisingly consistent with the sub-peak threshold of the force frequency. The main modes and frequency information of the flow field obtained by the SPOD method can provide valuable guidance for hydrofoil structures to avoid and predict ISW hazards in actual marine engineering operations.

In this study, the propagation and evolution characteristics of internal solitary waves on slope topography in stratified fluids were investigated. A numerical model of internal solitary wave propagation based on the nonlinear potential flow theory using the multi-domain boundary element method was developed and validated. The numerical model was used to calculate the propagation process of internal solitary waves on the topography with different slope parameters, including height and angle, and the influence of slope parameters, initial amplitude, and densities jump of two-layer fluid on the evolution of internal solitary waves is discussed. It was found that the wave amplitude first increased while climbing the slope and then decreased after passing over the slope shoulder based on the calculation results, and the wave amplitude reached a maximum at the shoulder of the slope. A larger height and angle of the slope can induce larger maximum wave amplitude and more obvious tail wave characteristics. The wave amplitude gradually decreased, and a periodic tail wave was generated when propagating on the plateau after passing the slope. Both frequency and height of the tail wave were affected by the geometric parameters of the slope bottom; however, the initial amplitude of the internal solitary wave only affects the tail wave height, but not the frequency of the tail wave.

In contrast to the extensive research on the propagation evolution of internal solitary waves (ISWs) over continental shelf topography, few investigations have been conducted on the propagation evolution of ISWs over downslope topography. In this experiment, the characteristics of the ISWs passing over a downslope topography were investigated in an immiscible two-layer fluid system to clearly capture the waveform information. The main objective of this study was to analyze the propagation evolution of ISWs with different incident amplitudes passing through a downslope topography. Using the particle image velocimetry technique, the evolutionary characteristics of ISWs (such as waveform, wave height, energy budget, and flow field) are investigated. According to the flow field analysis results, the phase velocity near the downslope topography changes with the propagation of ISWs. Moreover, the gradient distribution of velocity progressively becomes perpendicular to the right surface of the topography. Furthermore, a counterclockwise vortex gradually forms at the right upper vertex of the topography. The propagation of ISWs is influenced by varying water depth and topography. The front waveform of ISWs is significantly flat, and the back is steeper than the original back waveform. Around the tail wave, an upward convex wave packet is generated. The trends of wave energy and wave height losses are broadly consistent. Furthermore, the energy loss is related to the incident wave height with a 20% higher loss rate for large-amplitude ISWs than small-amplitude ISWs at the inflection point of the topography.

Polarity change is an important mechanism for internal waves shoaling. In this study, a numerical model for simulating the real-scale internal wave passing over slope-shelf topography is established based on the Fourier pseudo-spectral method and weakly nonlinear theory. By numerical simulation, the effects of shelf height, initial wave amplitude, and inclination angle on the waveform characteristics and energy properties of the internal wave during its shoaling are investigated. In the polarity change process, the initial internal wave converts into a depression wave and a generated elevation wave behind it. The distance between the peak of the elevation wave and the trough of the depression wave is a key feature to describe the polarity change. In terms of energy properties, the energy ratio of depression and generated elevation waves compared with the initial wave as well as their relative magnitude is mainly determined by the shelf height. In addition, the initial wave amplitude also affects the generation of the elevation wave and the attenuation of the depression wave to a certain extent. The increase in the inclination angle hinders the formation of the elevation wave but has little effect on the depression wave energy.