Wave Forces on an Elliptic Cylinder

Abstract

Two approximate methods are presented for the calculation of the wave induced forces and moments on a vertical, surface‐piercing cylinder of elliptic cross section. Both methods provide a substantial reduction in computational effort when Compared with the exact solution which involves the numerical evaluation of Mathieu functions. One method involves the expansion of the exact expressions for the forces and moments for small values of the elliptic eccentricity parameter. The second method is based on Green's theorem and gives rise to an integral equation for the fluid velocity potential on the cylinder surface. Numerical results are presented for a range of relevant parameters and show excellent agreement with the computed values of the exact solution.