Oblique wave groups in deep water

Abstract

Oblique wave groups consist of waves whose straight parallel lines of constant phase are oblique to the straight parallel lines of constant group phase. Numerical solutions for periodic oblique wave groups with envelopes of permanent shape are calculated from the equations for irrotational three-dimensional deep-water motion with nonlinear upper free-surface conditions. Two distinct families of periodic wave groups are found, one in which the waves in each group are in phase with those in all other groups, and the other in which there is a phase difference of π between the waves in consecutive groups. It is shown that some analytical solutions for oblique wave groups calculated from the nonlinear Schrödinger equation are in error because they ignore the resonant forcing of certain harmonics in two dimensions. Particular attention is given to oblique wave groups whose group-to-wave angle is in the neighbourhood of the critical angle tan−1√½, corresponding to waves on the boundary wedge of the Kelvin ship-wave pattern.