Abstract: | The problem of plane steady gravitational waves of finite amplitude, caused by a periodically distributed pressure over the surface of an ideal incompressible gravity fluid stream of finite depth, is considered. It is assumed that these waves do not vanish as the pressure becomes constant, but become free waves, which exist at constant pressure and special values of the stream velocity. As in [1], where a stream of finite depth is considered, such waves will be designated composite as contrasted with forced waves which vanish together with the variable part of the pressure. A general method is given for computing the composite wave characteristics. The first three approximations are computed to the end. An approximate equation for the wave profile is found. |