On the Fifth-Order Stokes Solution for Steady Water Waves

This paper presents a universal fifth-order Stokes solution for steady water waves on the basis of potential theory. It uses a global perturbation parameter, considers a depth uniform current, and thus admits the flexibilities on the definition of the perturbation parameter and on the determination of the wave celerity. The universal solution can be extended to that of Chappelear （1961）, confirming the correctness for the universal theory. Furthermore, a particular fifth-order solution is obtained where the wave steepness is used as the perturbation parameter. The applicable range of this solution in shallow depth is analyzed. Comparisons with the Fourier approximated results and with the experimental measurements show that the solution is fairly suited to waves with the Ursell number not exceeding 46.7.