Consistent expressions for the free-surface Green function in finite water depth

Abstract

Fast and accurate computation of the free-surface Green function is of key importance for the numerical solution of linear and second-order wave-structure interaction problems in three dimensions. Integral and series expressions for the Green function are derived for which the limiting values for zero and infinite frequency are consistent with the zero and infinite frequency Green function defined in terms of infinite series of Rankine image sources. The integral expressions presented here have the advantage that they are slowly varying with the non-dimensional wave frequency, making them more efficient to approximate compared with previous expressions.