The Bernoulli boundary condition for traveling water waves

The Bernoulli boundary condition for traveling water waves is obtained from Euler’s equation for inviscid flow by employing two key reductions: (i) the traveling wave assumption, (ii) the introduction of a velocity potential. Depending on the order of these reductions, the Bernoulli boundary condition may or may not contain an arbitrary constant. This note shows the equivalence of the two formulations. Further, we arrive at a physical interpretation for the Bernoulli constant, namely, that it is associated with an average current. Last, we show that the Bernoulli constant and the average current cannot simultaneously be zero for non-trivial traveling waves.