Kelvin wake pattern at small Froude numbers

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the Kelvin wake pattern at small Froude numbers, revealing that the apparent wake angle is less than the classical Kelvin angle and exploring nonlinear effects in different configurations.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of Kelvin wake patterns at small Froude numbers, showing the decrease in wake angle and examining nonlinear effects across various flow configurations.

Findings

Apparent wake angle is less than Kelvin angle at small Froude numbers.

Quantitative decrease in wake angle as Froude number decreases.

Nonlinear effects reveal unique features of wake patterns at low Froude numbers.

Abstract

The surface gravity wave pattern that forms behind a steadily moving disturbance is well known to comprise divergent waves and transverse waves, contained within a distinctive V-shaped wake. In this paper, we are concerned with a theoretical study of the limit of a slow-moving disturbance (small Froude numbers), for which the wake is dominated by transverse waves. We consider three configurations: flow past a submerged source singularity, a submerged doublet, and a pressure distribution applied to the surface. We treat the linearised version of these problems and use the method of stationary phase and exponential asymptotics to demonstrate that the apparent wake angle is less than the classical Kelvin angle and to quantify the decrease in apparent wake angle as the Froude number decreases. These results complement a number of recent studies for sufficiently fast-moving disturbances (large Froude numbers) where the apparent wake angle has been also less than the classical Kelvin angle. As well as shedding light on the wake angle, we also study the fully nonlinear problems for our three configurations under various limits to demonstrate the unique and interesting features of Kelvin wake patterns at small Froude numbers.