Past exam of the waves and compressible flow course of the University of Oxford 2023 1 a ii Solution 2026-10-25
Apply separation of variables to Laplace's equation. The side-wall Neumann boundary conditions give horizontal factors with . The bottom condition fixes the vertical factor to . Substitution into the surface condition in i gives the normal modes of surface gravity waves in a rectangular tank:The corresponding surface elevation follows from . The spatially uniform mode has zero frequency; its constant elevation changes total fluid volume, so it is absent when that volume is fixed. An additive constant in changes no fluid velocity.