Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2006
This paper presents the results of an analytical investigation of the steady translation of a vertical surface-piercing plate at a small angle of attack. This problem is the antisymmetric equivalent of the symmetric thin-ship problem solved by Michell. The linearized boundary-value problem is transformed into an integral equation of the first kind by the method of Green functions. The Kelvin–Havelock Green function is used to satisfy the linearized free-surface boundary condition and radiation condition. A pressure Kutta condition is imposed at the trailing edge. Effective algorithms are developed to evaluate the hypersingular kernel without recourse to numerical integration. The resulting integral equation is solved by a collocation method with a refined scheme of discretization. After establishing the convergence of the present algorithm, computations are carried out for a surface-piercing rectangular plate of aspect ratio 0.5. The integrated lateral-force and yaw-moment coefficients show good agreement with experimental data. Other parameters of the flow such as pressure distributions, drag, strength of leading-edge singularity and free-surface profiles on the plate are also presented. The incompatibility between the pressure Kutta condition and the linearized free-surface condition does not affect the global solution.