Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2006
This paper deals with a detailed application of the Whitham theory of finite amplitude wave propagation to open-channel steady flow of water of infinite depth past a slowly modulated wavy wall. A numerical procedure first used by Garabedian & Lieberstein (1958) for the solution of ‘stably-posed’ elliptic Cauchy problems is employed to obtain a map of the wave pattern on the free surface of the water. The appearance of a ‘shock’ in this solution is discussed in terms of previous analytical and experimental results.