Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
This paper is an investigation of the short-wave asymptotic motion due to a cylinder heaving at the surface separating two infinite liquids. The cylinder is assumed to have a smooth cross-section of an arbitrary shape that intersects the surface of separation at right angles. A non-rigorous argument is used to get the asymptotic expansion of the velocity potentials of the motion in the two liquids in the far field. The asymptotic evaluation of the coefficients describing wave-making, virtual-mass and damping are also obtained in terms of the limit potentials of the motions in the two liquids.