Home▸Fluid Dynamics & Aerodynamics▸Ripple Tank 2D: Droplet Waves & Breakwater Diffraction

Ripple Tank 2D: Droplet Waves & Breakwater Diffraction

A CPU-driven 2D water-surface wave tank: drop stones or turn on rain, tune water depth (wave speed), viscosity and a breakwater gap, and watch real leapfrog wave-equation ripples spread, reflect and diffract.

Fluid Dynamics & Aerodynamics2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D companion drives the same class of shallow-water wave equation as the 3D ripple tank through a plain CPU canvas view built around discrete impacts rather than a continuous oscillator: click or drag anywhere on the tank to drop stones, or switch on rain for a steady scatter of random droplets, and watch each circular ripple expand, reflect off the tank walls and interfere with the others. A physical Water depth slider sets the wave speed through c = √(g·depth) — the real shallow-water dispersion relation used to explain tsunami behaviour — while a breakwater wall with an adjustable gap turns a wide wavefront into a narrow diffracted beam on the far side.

⚙ Under the hood

CPU leapfrog solver for the shallow-water wave equation ∂²h/∂t² = c²∇²h, driven by droplet impacts and rain, with a physical depth-to-speed relation and a breakwater gap for diffraction.

fluid dynamicswave equationwater wavesbreakwaterdiffractionleapfrog integration

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install