Professor Matiur Rahman from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, gave a presentation on the use of Weber’s transform to determine forces on Offshore Structures for the case of time-harmonic waves.
The objective of this research was to present an accurate solution for the problem of surface piercing cylinders in waves. Weber’s transform allows for the solution of Laplace’s equation in cylindrical coordinates and hence is most appropriate for these cases. Solutions such as this are important to provide precise benchmarks for validation of numerical schemes such as boundary elements.
The usual assumptions of irrotational and inviscid flow plus the small amplitude of the wave apply. The flow can be described in terms of a velocity potential. The Weber transform is applied to find the solution for the forces acting on the cylinders. This is a problem of great current interest.
Wessex Institute