On an invariant property of water waves

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The discussion concerns free wave motions generated from rest in a finite region of an ocean of heavy liquid lying on a horizontal plane. It is shown that the horizontal fist moment of the free-surface displacement varies linearly with time. Hence, if the total volume displaced is not zero and therefore the centroid of the displacement is definable, the centroid travels with a constant horizontal velocity as the wave motion evolves. This conclusion holds exactly for waves of any amplitude and even remains applicable subsequent to the breaking of waves.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: