A geometric approach to generalized Stokes conjectures (Q642123)

Consider a 2-dimensional inviscid incompressible fluid acted on by gravity and with a free surface. The problem describes both water waves, in which case the authors add homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions on a flat horizontal bottom \(y=-d\) combined with periodicity in the \(x=\pm \infty\), and the equally physical problem of the equilibrium state of a fluid when pumping in water from one lateral boundary and sucking it out at the lateral boundary. Reduce the wave motion to steady motion by superposing a velocity equal and opposite to that of propagation. Then a particle at the surface may be thought of as gliding along a fixed smooth curve: this follows directly from physical considerations, or from the ordinary equation of steady motion. On arriving at a crest the particle must momentarily abe t rest, and on passing it must be ultimately in the condition of a particle starting from rest down an inclined or vertical plane. Hence the velocity must vary ultimately as the square root of the distance from the crest.