A new kind of solitary wave
- 1 December 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Vol. 245 (-1) , 401-411
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s002211209200051x
Abstract
The investigation focuses on solitary-wave solutions of an approximate pseudo-differential equation governing the unidirectional propagation of long waves in a two-fluid system where the lower fluid with greater density is infinitely deep and the interface is subject to capillarity. The validity of this model equation is shown to depend on the assumption that T/g(ρ2-ρ1)h2 [Gt ] 1, where T is the interfacial surface tension, ρ2 − ρ1 the difference between the densities of the fluids and h the undisturbed thickness of the upper layer.Various properties of solitary waves are demonstrated. For example, they have oscillatory outskirts and their velocities of translation are less than the minimum velocity of infinitesimal waves. Also, they realise respective minima of an invariant functional for fixed values of another such functional, being in consequence orbitally stable. Explicit non-trivial solutions of the equation in question are unavailable, but an existence theory is presented covering both periodic and solitary waves of permanent form.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Note on formulas for the drag of a sphereJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1993
- Gravity-capillary solitary waves in water of infinite depth and related free-surface flowsJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1992
- Solitary-wave solutions of nonlinear problemsPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1990
- Capillary–gravity waves of solitary type on deep waterJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1989
- The solitary wave with surface tensionQuarterly of Applied Mathematics, 1982
- Algebraic Solitary Waves in Stratified FluidsJournal of the Physics Society Japan, 1975
- On the stability theory of solitary wavesProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1975
- The stability of solitary wavesProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1972
- Internal waves of permanent form in fluids of great depthJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 1967
- XLI. On the change of form of long waves advancing in a rectangular canal, and on a new type of long stationary wavesJournal of Computers in Education, 1895