Qualitative theory of nonlinear steady water waves

In this paper, the nonlinear boundary problem describing two-dimensional steady waves on the surface of water with finite depth is discussed. The problem is formulated in the conventional statement (the gravity is taken into account, but the surface tension is neglected). The latter one allows discussing the whole class of bounded waves that includes periodic waves, solitary waves, and other types of waves (for instance, almost-periodic waves, although their existence has not been established yet). This fact suggests that the results obtained fall within the domain of the qualitative theory of differential equations (investigation of the properties of solutions without finding them). In this paper, two approaches to the qualitative theory are discussed. The first approach consists in averaging the solution along the vertical sections of the region, and the second approach is based on the authors’ modification of Byatt-Smith’s integro-differential equation. Thus, the paper contains an overview of the results obtained for the problem of nonlinear stationary waves on water with finite depth. Two approaches to this problem form a basis of the qualitative theory of such waves, because there are no constraints imposed on the waves except for the boundedness of their profiles and steepness restrictions.