Eliminating the Kelvin wake*

Everyone has seen the v-shaped Kelvin wake-pattern visible in the wake of a moving object on the surface of water. These patterns are a rare example of a fluid dynamics phenomena well-known to scientists and layman alike. However, the wake is undesirable for a number of reasons; it can cause erosion to river banks and cause wave-drag, thus reducing the fuel efficiency. Therefore, the design of a moving body that can reduce or even eliminate these waves is important for sustainability. A typical approach is to model the boat by an imposed pressure distribution in the free-surface Bernoulli condition. In this talk we show, using a simple mathematical argument, that by a judicious choice of a pressure distribution, wave-free solutions are possible in the context of a model system; the forced Kadometsev-Petviashvili equation. Strikingly, we show that these solutions are stable, so they could potentially be visualised in a physical experiment. The answer of the question in the title is therefore; 'Yes', it is possible to eliminate Kelvin waves.