On the radiation and diffraction of water waves by a rectangular buoy

An analytical method is presented to analyze the radiation and diffraction of water waves by a rectangular buoy in an infinite fluid domain of finite water depth. Analytical expressions for the radiated potentials and the diffracted potentials are obtained by use of the method of separation of variables. The unknown coefficients in the expressions are determined by use of the eigenfunction expansion matching method. The added masses and damping coefficients for the buoy heaving, swaying and rolling in calm water are obtained by use of the corresponding radiated potentials. Wave excitation forces are calculated by two different approaches, one is by use of the radiated potentials through Haskind’s theorem and the other is by the diffracted potential. It can be seen that the latter approach for wave forces on a rectangular buoy is much simpler than the former. To verify the correctness of the method, two specific examples in the past references are recomputed and the obtained results are in good agreement with those by use of other methods, which shows that the present method is correct.