Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2006
The problem considered is the entry of a thin symmetric wedge impinging normally on the free surface of a compressible inviscid liquid, gravitational effects being neglected. Since the body is thin, the problem is a linear one, and its solution is possible for the whole range of Mach numbers of the body's motion in the liquid. It is shown that the free-surface elevations are lowered considerably as the Mach number increases, and that the presence of the free surface acts so as to lower the pressure differences arising from compressibility.