A SIMPLE APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF WAVE PATTERNS

Abstract

The paper revisits some pioneering work of Sir Thomas Havelock on wave patterns with particular attention focussed on his graphical method of analysis. Motivated by a desire to explore this method further using numerical methods, it is extended in a simple manner to give three-dimensional illustrations of the wave patterns of a point disturbance in deep and shallow water. All results are confined to the sub- and trans-critical regimes with some obtained very close to the critical Depth Froude Number. Some conclusions are drawn on the wave types produced when operating close to the critical speed and their decay with distance off.