Capillary-wave generation and vertical dynamics of a periodically driven floating disk*

When a millimetric body is deposited onto the interface of a vibrating liquid bath, the relative motion between the object and interface generates outwardly propagating capillary waves. Recent work has demonstrated that such wave-emitting bodies are able to self-propel while also exhibiting a rich array of wave-mediated collective interactions. However, a more detailed understanding of the generated wavefield and vertical dynamics is necessary to better predict and analyze such emergent behaviors. As a first step towards this goal, we here investigate the axisymmetric problem of the response of a floating circular disk subjected to external forcing through experiment and quasi-potential free surface modeling. A reduced-order model for the body dynamics is also developed, drawing analogy to the simple harmonic oscillator. Ongoing and future work will be discussed.