Relating the bottom pressure and the surface elevation in the water wave problem

Abstract

An overview is presented of recent progress on the relation between the pressure at the bottom of the flat water bed and the elevation of the free water boundary within the context of the one-dimensional, irrotational water wave problem. We present five different approaches to this problem. All are compared to (1) numerical data for Stokes waves, one-dimensional traveling wave solutions of the full irrotational water wave problem, and (2) experimental data for high-amplitude waves in a long, narrow (i.e. one-dimensional) wave tank. © 2012 2012 The Author(s).