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-----Original Message-----
From: Leigh Palmer
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 10:14 AM
Subject: Re: Shocks and Kelvin wakes
Boat wakes are much more complicated than shock waves in air. They were
first partially explained by Lord Kelvin, and the vee-shaped component
is called the "Kelvin wake", though as you will see from the photo
referred to below, there is much more structure to it than that. The
vee-shaped component is geometrical in nature. The Kelvin wake always
opens at 19.5 degrees half angle, regardless of the boat's (constant)
speed.
Derivation of the 19.5 degree vee can be found in a (small) number of
texts, and I didn't find a good one on the web in a cursory googling.