| Abstract: | A numerical solution is developed to investigate the generation and propagation of small-amplitude water waves in a semi-infinite rectangular wave basin. The three-dimensional wave field is produced by the prescribed “snake-like” motion of an array of segmented wave generators located along the wall at one end of the tank. The solution technique is based on the boundary element approach and uses an appropriate three-dimensional Green function which explicitly satisfies the tank-wall boundary conditions. The Green function and its derivatives which appear in the integral equation formulation can be shown to be slowly convergent when the source and field points are in close proximity. Therefore, when computing the velocity potentials on the wave generators, the source points are chosen outside the fluid domain, thereby ensuring the rapid convergence of these functions and rendering the integral equations non-singular. Numerical results are shown which illustrate the influence of the various wavemaker and basin parameters on the generated wave field. Finally, the complete wave field produced by the diffraction of oblique waves by a vertical circular cylinder in a basin is presented. |
