Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
In this paper various wave motions in water of infinite depth containing vertical porous boundaries are determined when the water is of infinite extent on one or both sides. Initially surface tension is ignored and simple solutions for incident waves are obtained before going on to harder wave source and wave-maker solutions. A reduction method is developed to obtain solutions for two-sided boundaries from those for one-sided, which are obtained by standard techniques. The effect of surface tension that precludes simple solutions is also considered, although a present lack of information on dynamical edge behaviour for porous boundaries means that the formal mathematical solutions must be left in terms of arbitrary edge constants. In conclusion, some solutions are noted for finite depth.