Abstract

Johnson's (1973) description of a solitary wave in water of slowly varying depth is extended to a channel of slowly varying breadth and depth b and d on the assumption that the scale for the variation of b and d is large compared with d5/2a3/2. It is inferred from conservation of energy that the amplitude of the wave is proportional to $b^{-\frac{2}{3}}d^{-1}$ (cf. Green's law $a\propto b^{-\frac{1}{2}}d^{-\frac{1}{4}}$ for long waves of small amplitude). Comparison with experiment (Perroud 1957) yields fairly satisfactory agreement for a linearly converging channel of constant depth. The agreement for a linearly diverging channel is not satisfactory, but the experimental data are inadequate to support any firm conclusion.

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