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Three-dimensional solitary waves in dispersive wave systems

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dc.contributor.advisor Triantaphyllos R. Akylas. en_US
dc.contributor.author Kim, Boguk, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.contributor.other Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mathematics. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2008-02-28T16:25:45Z
dc.date.available 2008-02-28T16:25:45Z
dc.date.copyright 2006 en_US
dc.date.issued 2006 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/34543 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34543
dc.description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mathematics, 2006. en_US
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-122). en_US
dc.description.abstract Fully localized three-dimensional solitary waves, commonly referred to as 'lumps', have received far less attention than two-dimensional solitary waves in dispersive wave systems. Prior studies have focused in the long-wave limit, where lumps exist if the long-wave speed is a minimum of the phase speed and are described by the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation. In the water-wave problem, in particular, lumps of the KP type are possible only in the strong-surface-tension regime (Bond number, B > 1/3), a condition that limits the water depth to a few mm. In the present thesis, a new class of lumps is found that is possible under less restrictive physical conditions. Rather than long waves, these lumps bifurcate from infinitesimal sinusoidal waves of finite wavenumber at an extremum of the phase speed. As the group and phase velocities are equal there, small-amplitude lumps resemble fully localized wavepackets with envelope and crests moving at the same speed, and the wave envelope along with the induced mean-flow component are governed by a coupled Davey-Stewartson equation system of elliptic-elliptic type. The lump profiles feature algebraically decaying tails at infinity owing to this mean flow. In the case of water waves, lumps of the wavepacket type are possible when both gravity and surface tension are present on water of finite or infinite depth for B < 1/3. en_US
dc.description.abstract (cont.) The asymptotic analysis of these lumps in the vicinity of their bifurcation point at the minimum gravity-capillary phase speed, is in agreement with recent fully numerical computations by Parau, Cooker & Vanden-Broeck (2005) as well as a formal existence proof by Groves & Sun (2005). A linear stability analysis of the gravity-capillary solitary waves that also bifurcate at the minimum gravity-capillary phase speed, reveals that they are always unstable to transverse perturbations, suggesting a mechanism for the generation of lumps. This generation mechanism is explored in the context of the two-dimensional Benjamin (2-DB) equation, a generalization to two horizontal spatial dimensions of the model equation derived by Benjamin (1992) for uni-directional, small-amplitude, long interfacial waves in a two-fluid system with strong interfacial tension. The 2-DB equation admits solitary waves and lumps of the wavepacket type analogous to those bifurcating at the minimum gravity-capillary phase speed in the water-wave problem. Based on unsteady numerical simulations, it is demonstrated that the transverse instability of solitary waves of the 2-DB equation results in the formation of lumps, which propagate stably and are thus expected to be the asymptotic states of the initial-value problem for fully localized initial conditions. en_US
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2008-02-28T16:25:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 71003589.pdf: 12002493 bytes, checksum: 2f7f4081f276fb3055843bdc17ea87d8 (MD5) 71003589-MIT.pdf: 12016495 bytes, checksum: f01127587b355becb672ec02016ff729 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 en
dc.description.statementofresponsibility by Boguk Kim. en_US
dc.format.extent 122 p. en_US
dc.language.iso eng en_US
dc.publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.rights M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/34543 en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subject Mathematics. en_US
dc.title Three-dimensional solitary waves in dispersive wave systems en_US
dc.title.alternative 3D solitary waves in dispersive wave systems en_US
dc.type Thesis en_US
dc.description.degree Ph.D. en_US
dc.contributor.department Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mathematics. en_US
dc.identifier.oclc 71003589 en_US

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