On the universal third order Stokes wave solution

Abstract

This paper presents a universal third-order Stokes solution with uniform current. This solution is derived on the basis of potential theory by expanding the free surface and potential function in Fourier series and determining the Fourier coefficients by solving a set of nonlinear algebraic equations through the Taylor expansion and perturbation method. The universal solution is expressed upon the still water depth with the still water level as datum and retains a global perturbation parameter. The wave set-up term generated by the self-interaction of oscillatory waves is explicitly included in the free surface function. With the use of different definitions for the wave celerity, different water levels as the datum, different non-dimensional variables as the perturbation parameter, and different treatments for the total head, the universal solution can be reduced to the existing various Stokes solutions, thus explaining the reasons and the physical significance of different non-periodic terms in them, such as the positive or negative constant term in the free surface expression and the time- or space-proportional term in the potential function.