On the Lagrangian description of steady surface gravity waves

This paper concerns the mathematical formulation of two-dimensional steady surface gravity waves in a Lagrangian description of motion. It is demonstrated first that classical second-order Lagrangian Stokes-like approximations do not exactly represent a steady wave motion in the presence of net mass transport (Stokes drift). A general mathematically correct formulation is then derived. This derivation leads naturally to a Lagrangian Stokes-like perturbation scheme that is uniformly valid for all time – in other words, without secular terms. This scheme is illustrated, both for irrotational waves, with seventh-order and third-order approximations in deep water and finite depth, respectively, and for rotational waves with a third-order approximation of the Gerstner-like wave on finite depth. It is also shown that the Lagrangian approximations are more accurate than their Eulerian counterparts of the same order.