Abstract
A theory is given for predicting the absorption of the power in an incident sinusoidal wave train by means of a damped, oscillating, partly or completely submerged body. General expressions for the efficiency of wave absorption when the body oscillates in one or, in some cases, two modes are given. It is shown that 100% efficiency is possible in some cases. Curves describing the variation of efficiency and amplitude of the body with wavenumber for various bodies are presented.