The topic of the resonant waves, an interesting physics phenomenon, is of the momentous significance to the ocean engineering studies. Prof. Philips of the United States put forward in 1960 the conditions where the resonant waves might occur. In 1962, Prof. Benney of Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that the periodic changes occur at each of the wave amplitudes. He then concluded that the periodic changes normally occur to the wave spectra in the wake of the passage of time. In the past half century, despite the consistent effort, generations of the global experts in field of hydrodynamics failed to find out the steady-state resonant waves, the wave spectra of which are unaffected by the chronological change.

In 2014, thanks to the internationally advanced wave basin provided by the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering of the NAOCE, SJTU, the research group under the leadership of Prof. Liao Shijun proved experimentally the existence of the steady-state resonant waves for the first time in the history, prior to which, the research group had made a historic breakthrough in the theoretical validation of the infinite-depth and finite-depth steady-state resonant waves by means of “Homotopy Analysis Method”.

The experimental results which Prof. Liao Shijun attained together with his collaborators have already been published in the worldly renowned Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Such a monumental breakthrough has immensely enriched and promoted the studies upon the steady-state resonant waves.