Book excerpt: Mixing processes in the ocean play a key role in controlling the large-scale circulation and energy distribution of the ocean. Internal tide-driven mixing is most important among the processes to mix the ocean interior. In the past decade, significant efforts have been made to understand tidal mixing processes. However, more details and better understanding are still required for some fundamental problems, such as the mechanisms that govern internal tide generation, radiation, and dissipation processes and the associated energy partitioning. This research aims to understand the energetics and dynamics of tidal mixing processes through both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. The complete form of barotropic and baroclinic energy equations are derived and employed as the theoretical framework for analyzing the tidal energy budget. These equations provide a more accurate and detailed energy analysis because they include the full nonlinear and nonhydrostatic energy flux contributions as well as an improved evaluation of the available potential energy. This approach has been implemented in the hydrodynamic SUNTANS model, which is being employed to study the energetics of barotropic-to-baroclinic tidal conversion over complex bathymetry in the real ocean. Three-dimensional, high-resolution simulations of the barotropic and baroclinic tides in the Monterey Bay area are conducted using the SUNTANS model. A detailed analysis of the energy budget is performed to address the question of how the barotropic tidal energy is partitioned between local barotropic dissipation and local generation of baroclinic energy. After that, we then assess how much of this generated baroclinic energy is lost locally versus how much is radiated away and made available for open-ocean mixing. The mechanism of internal tide generation is investigated by examining the dependence of barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion on three nondimensional parameters, namely the steepness parameter, the tidal excursion parameter, and the Froude number. Finally, a simple parametric model is presented to estimate the barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion.