Chapter 4.

Wavemaker Theory

4.1 Wave Generation

4.1.1 Simplified theory for plane wavemakers in shallow water

Galvin(1964) reasoned that the water displaced by the wavemaker should be

equal to the crest volume of the propagating wave form. For example, consider

a piston wavemaker with a stroke  which is constant over a depth  . The

volume of water displaced over a whole stroke is   . The volume of water in a
wave crest is


 
sin   (4.1)

Equating the two volumes,

   
      
      (4.2)

in which the  factor represents the ratio of the shaded area to the area of
the enclosing rectangle (i.e., an area factor). this equation can also be expressed

  

  (4.3)

where  is the height-to-stroke ratio. This relationship is valid in the

shallow water region,    . For a flap wavemaker, hinged at the bottom,
the volume of water displaced by the wavemaker would be less by a factor of

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2.

  


 

(4.4)

<Figure 4.1> Simplified shallow water piston-type wavemaker theory of Galvin

These two relationships are shown as the straight dashed line.

<Figure 4.2> Plane wavemaker theory. Wave height to stroke ratios versus
relative depth. Piston and flap type wavemaker motions

Moreover, there are other types of wavemaker (the plunger wavemaker and the

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spiral wavemaker).

4.2 Liner Wavemaker Theory

4.2.1 Wavemakers

The wave tank has a constant depth,  . A wavemaker is placed at one

end of the wave tank. At the other end an energy absorbing device is
installed so that waves generated by the wavemaker will not be reflected. The
concept of a wavemaker is to introduce free surface motions by displacing a
portion of water body in a controlled manner. The most commonly used
wavemakers are piston-type, hinged-type(flap-type), and plunger-type. The
piston-type wavemaker is a vertical plate which moves horizontally. Therefore,
the horizontal velocity on the wavemaker is uniform in the vertical direction. On
the other hand, both the hinged-type and plunger-type wavemaker produce
maximum horizontal velocity on the free surface.

<Figure 4.3> Flap type wavemaker

4.2.3 Mathematical approach of the wavemaker problem

Mathematically, the wavemaker with the frequency,  . If the mean position

of the wavemaker is located at    and the amplitude of the wavemaker

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motion is small, the linearized version of the no-flow condition on the
mean position of the wavemaker gives


         (4.5)


The right hand side should be the velocity of the wavemaker and    gives
the vertical variations of the wavemaker velocity. At the far end of the tank,
we assume that the wave behaves like an outgoing wave at ∞ , i.e. the wave
propagates away from the wavemaker not towards it. The wave behavior is

expected to be like    . This condition is usually referred to as the

radiation boundary condition. Inside the flow domain,  ≥     ≤  ≤  , the
velocity potential satisfies the Laplace equation and the linearized free surface
boundary conditions and the no-flux condition on the bottom. For completeness
and later use, we summarize the boundary value problem.

∇      ≥     ≤  ≤ 


     


 
         (4.6)
 


       


 ∼    → ∞

where we have used the combined form of kinematic and dynamic boundary
conditions.

4.2.3. Derivation using the method of separation of variables

The solution of the boundary-value-problem can be obtained by the method

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of separation of variables. We assume          and replace it in the
Laplace equation to get the following two ordinary differerntial equations.


 
   

(4.7)

    


where  is an arbitrary constant. The non-trivial solution to above equations is

       
(4.8)
   cosh      sinh   

If  is a real constant, the solution has a periodic behavior in the  -direction

and an exponential(or hyperbolic) character in the vertical directions. The term

  represents waves propagating in the negative  -direction and is rejected

based on the radiation boundary condition. Thus,    . On the other hand, if 
is an imaginary constant,    , the solution can be written as

       
(4.9)
   cos     sin   

The solution has an exponential character in the  -direction and a periodic

character in the  -direction. The term  increase exponentially as  → ∞ and

must be rejected. Therefore,  is also zero. Furthermore, from the no-flux

equation 


       is also zero. In order to determine the constant  ,

we substitute the solutions in the free surface boundary condition

 






       and get

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  tanh    (4.10)

if  is a real constant. Or

 tan     (4.11)

Equation (4.10) is nothing but the dispersion equation. From the earlier
discussion, the dispersion relation admits only one solution. The solution of

equation (4.11) is the intersection of the curves     and

   tan  where   . Because tan-function has an infinite number of

branches, equation (4.12) admits an infinite number of solutions  , such that


tan      ⋯ (4.12)


<Figure 4.4> Graphical representation of the dispersion relationship for the

standing wave modes, showing three of the infinite numbers of

roots  . Here,   

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It can be easily seen that    ≺  ≺ , and as  → ∞ we have

tan  → , and hence  → .

 and  are also known as eigenvalues of the boundary value problem, i.e.

only those values of  and  that satisfy (4.11) and (4.12) will yield a

non-trivial solution. The potential can now be written in the form

∞
           

 
 
(4.13)

where

   cosh      cos    (4.14)

   tanh      tan  (4.15)

in which  are unknown coefficients that will be determined from the

kinematic boundary condition on the wavemaker, equation 



       .

We note that the first term in the solution represent the propagation modes,
which propagates away from the wavemaker. The second term in the series
represents solutions which decay exponentially with distance from the

wavemaker. These waves are called evanescent wave modes. The larger   s

decay faster than the smaller   s, and an observer standing far enough from

the wavemaker will not feel the evanescent waves.

From the boundary condition on the wavemaker, 



       , we have

∞
      

       (4.16)

in which  gives the vertical velocity profile of the wavemaker and depends

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on the wavemaker type. If it is a piston-type wavemaker,    . If it is a

hinged-type wavemaker,       where  is the maximum stroke of

the wavemaker.

(Example) Orthogonality of function

The functions   s form an orthogonal set of functions over the interval

     , i.e.

 if  ≠ 
 
 
         sin  
    if   
        ⋯ (4.17)
  

The orthogonality property is very useful to find the   s. If we

multiply both sides of equation (4.16) by   and integrate from  

to 0, then the orthogonality property only one term on the left hand

side of the equation will survive. the -th mode

 
     
      
     (4.18)

Solving for  we have

 
 
 cos      
    


     (4.19)
    sin   
       
 
  

  
      

To evaluate the    mode we just set    

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  
     

  cosh      

     (4.20)
   sinh  
       
     
    

4.2.4. For a piston-type wavemaker

The problem has now been solved completely. The solution is given by
equations (4.13)～(4.15) and (4.19)～(4.20). The computations of numerical values

can be carried out if   is known. Notice that if      then only one

(the -th) wave mode will be generated, all other  ≠  will be equal to zero.

In particular, if a wavemaker can be designed such that     , only the

propagation mode will be generated (  ≠  and  ≥   ).

The free surface displacement can be obtained from the free-surface condition

∞
  
          sinh  
   
  
  sin     (4.21)

Far away from the wavemaker, →∞, the amplitude of the progressive wave

can be estimated as


   sinh  (4.22)


For a piston-type wavemaker the velocity of the wavemaker the velocity of

the wavemaker is uniform through out the entire water depth, i.e.,    .

Equations (4.19) and (4.20) can be written as

 sinh 
    (4.23)
  sinh 

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  sin 
    (4.24)
   sin  
  

If we define the stroke of the piston-type wavemaker as


   (4.25)


the ratio of the wave amplitude of the progressive wave to the stroke of the
wavemaker can be found from (4.22)～(4.24), i.e.,

  sinh  
   (4.26)
   sinh 

This ratio approaches two in deep water,  → ∞, and approaches  in the

shallow water,  → .

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