A Higher-Order Internal Wave Model Accounting for Large Bathymetric Variations

A higher-order strongly nonlinear model is derived to describe the evolution of large amplitude internal waves over arbitrary bathymetric variations in a two-layer system where the upper layer is shallow while the lower layer is comparable to the characteristic wavelength. The new system of nonlinear evolution equations with variable coefficients is a generalization of the deep configuration model proposed by Choi and Camassa [ 1 ] and accounts for both a higher-order approximation to pressure coupling between the two layers and the effects of rapidly varying bottom variation. Motivated by the work of Rosales and Papanicolaou [ 2 ], an averaging technique is applied to the system for weakly nonlinear long internal waves propagating over periodic bottom topography. It is shown that the system reduces to an effective Intermediate Long Wave (ILW) equation, in contrast to the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation derived for the surface wave case.     

Resonant vibrations in harmonically excited weakly coupled mechanical systems with cyclic symmetry

The resonant vibrations in weakly coupled nonlinear cyclic symmetric structures are studied. These structures consist of weakly coupled identical nonlinear oscillators. A careful bifurcation analysis of the amplitude equations is performed in the fundamental resonance case for an illustrative example consisting of a three particle system. In case of a uniformly distributed excitation, a localized response is identified in which one of the particles exhibits large amplitude motions compared to those of the other particles. In case of single-particle excitation, it is found that for very small coupling strength and large external mistuning, a large stable localized periodic response coexists with an extended small response. With an increase in the coupling strength, multiple extended solutions arise near the exact external resonance via saddle-node bifurcations. Further increase in coupling strength and a decrease in damping results in isolated asymmetric solution branches, which bifurcate from the symmetric solutions via symmetry-breaking bifurcations. The role of coupling strength in creating/destroying localized solutions is discussed.     

海洋表面波约化Hamilton方程的新发展:从小幅波到有限幅波的推广

海洋表面波的3-波至5-波约化Hamilton方程由于其对称多项式简化结构以及保能量等独特优点,得到广泛应用.但是,据相关近似假设,其适用范围局限于波陡很小的弱非线性波.于是进一步探讨下述推广问题: 对一定范围内的有限幅非线性波,在足够精确意义上是否也能获得具对称多项式简化结构的约化Hamilton方程？由于涉及复杂非线性强耦合,在该重要方面至今尚未取得进展.提出基于Chebyshev(切比雪夫)多项式逼近处理精确水波方程强非线性耦合的新简化途径,导出具对称多项式简化结构的新约化Hamilton方程.新结果将波数与波陡之积为小量的弱非线性情形拓广到该积直至1.035的非线性情形.分析表明,在该范围内新结果的误差不超过5%,特别,当前述积邻近于0.9时新结果给出精确结果.     

Dynamics of Strongly Nonlinear Internal Solitary Waves in Shallow Water

We study the dynamics of large amplitude internal solitary waves in shallow water by using a strongly nonlinear long-wave model. We investigate higher order nonlinear effects on the evolution of solitary waves by comparing our numerical solutions of the model with weakly nonlinear solutions. We carry out the local stability analysis of solitary wave solution of the model and identify an instability mechanism of the Kelvin–Helmholtz type. With parameters in the stable range, we simulate the interaction of two solitary waves: both head-on and overtaking collisions. We also study the deformation of a solitary wave propagating over non-uniform topography and describe the process of disintegration in detail. Our numerical solutions unveil new dynamical behaviors of large amplitude internal solitary waves, to which any weakly nonlinear model is inapplicable.     

Short-Lived Large-Amplitude Pulses in the Nonlinear Long-Wave Model Described by the Modified Korteweg–De Vries Equation

The appearance and disappearance of short-lived large-amplitude pulses in a nonlinear long wave model is studied in the framework of the modified Korteweg–de Vries equation. The major mechanism of such wave generation is modulational instability leading to the generation and interaction of the breathers. The properties of breathers are studied both within the modified Korteweg–de Vries equation, and also within the nonlinear Schrödinger equations derived by an asymptotic reduction from the modified Korteweg–de Vries for weakly nonlinear wave packets. The associated spectral problems (AKNS or Zakharov-Shabat) of the inverse-scattering transform technique also are utilized. Wave formation due to this modulational instability is investigated for localized and for periodic disturbances. Nonlinear-dispersive focusing is identified as a possible mechanism for the formation of anomalously large pulses.     

Weak and Strong Interactions between Internal Solitary Waves

The interaction of weakly nonlinear long internal gravity waves is studied. Weak interactions occur when the wave phase speeds are unequal; this case includes that of a head-on collision. It is shown that each wave satisfies a Korteweg-de Vries equation, and the main effect of the interaction is described by a phase shift. Strong interactions occur when the wave phase speeds are nearly equal although the waves belong to different modes. This case is described by a pair of coupled Korteweg-de Vries equations, for which some preliminary numerical results are presented.     

A Numerical Study of the Exact Evolution Equations for Surface Waves in Water of Finite Depth

We describe a pseudo-spectral numerical method to solve the systems of one-dimensional evolution equations for free surface waves in a homogeneous layer of an ideal fluid. We use the method to solve a system of one-dimensional integro-differential equations, first proposed by Ovsjannikov and later derived by Dyachenko, Zakharov, and Kuznetsov, to simulate the exact evolution of nonlinear free surface waves governed by the two-dimensional Euler equations. These equations are written in the transformed plane where the free surface is mapped onto a flat surface and do not require the common assumption that the waves have small amplitude used in deriving the weakly nonlinear Korteweg–de Vries and Boussinesq long-wave equations. We compare the solution of the exact reduced equations with these weakly nonlinear long-wave models and with the nonlinear long-wave equations of Su and Gardner that do not assume the waves have small amplitude. The Su and Gardner solutions are in remarkably close agreement with the exact Euler solutions for large amplitude solitary wave interactions while the interactions of low-amplitude solitary waves of all four models agree. The simulations demonstrate that our method is an efficient and accurate approach to integrate all of these equations and conserves the mass, momentum, and energy of the Euler equations over very long simulations.     

Rossby Solitary Waves in the Presence of a Critical Layer

This study considers the evolution of weakly nonlinear long Rossby waves in a horizontally sheared zonal current. We consider a stable flow so that the nonlinear time scale is long. These assumptions enable the flow to organize itself into a large‐scale coherent structure in the régime where a competition sets in between weak nonlinearity and weak dispersion. This balance is often described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation. The traditional assumption of a weak amplitude breaks down when the wave speed equals the mean flow velocity at a certain latitude, due to the appearance of a singularity in the leading‐order equation, which strongly modifies the flow in a critical layer. Here, nonlinear effects are invoked to resolve this singularity, because the relevant geophysical flows have high Reynolds numbers. Viscosity is introduced in order to render the nonlinear‐critical‐layer solution unique, but the inviscid limit is eventually taken. By the method of matched asymptotic expansions, this inner flow is matched at the edges of the critical layer with the outer flow. We will show that the critical‐layer–induced flow leads to a strong rearrangement of the related streamlines and consequently of the potential‐vorticity contours, particularly in the neighborhood of the separatrices between the open and closed streamlines. The symmetry of the critical layer vis‐à‐vis the critical level is also broken. This theory is relevant for the phenomenon of Rossby wave breaking and eventual saturation into a nonlinear wave. Spatially localized solutions are described by a Korteweg‐de‐Vries equation, modified by new nonlinear terms; depending on the critical‐layer shape, this leads to depression or elevation waves. The additional terms are made necessary at a certain order of the asymptotic expansion while matching the inner flow on the dividing streamlines. The new evolution equation supports a family of solitary waves. In this paper we describe in detail the case of a depression wave, and postpone for further discussion the more complex case of an elevation wave.     

On HSS-based iteration methods for weakly nonlinear systems

Based on separable property of the linear and the nonlinear terms and on the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting of the coefficient matrix, we present the Picard-HSS and the nonlinear HSS-like iteration methods for solving a class of large scale systems of weakly nonlinear equations. The advantage of these methods over the Newton and the Newton-HSS iteration methods is that they do not require explicit construction and accurate computation of the Jacobian matrix, and only need to solve linear sub-systems of constant coefficient matrices. Hence, computational workloads and computer memory may be saved in actual implementations. Under suitable conditions, we establish local convergence theorems for both Picard-HSS and nonlinear HSS-like iteration methods. Numerical implementations show that both Picard-HSS and nonlinear HSS-like iteration methods are feasible, effective, and robust nonlinear solvers for this class of large scale systems of weakly nonlinear equations.     

Weakly Nonlinear Internal Waves in Shear

An evolution equation in a finite depth fluid for weakly nonlinear long internal waves is derived in a stratified and sheared medium. The equation reduces to the Korteweg-deVries equation when the depth is small compared to the wavelength, and to the Benjamin-Ono equation when the depth is large compared to the wavelength. Both the cases with and without critical levels are investigated. Numerical solutions to the evolution equation are presented to illustrate the effect of shear on the evolution of a waveform.     

Nonlinearly Coupled KdV Equations Describing the Interaction of Equatorial and Midlatitude Rossby Waves

Amplitude equations governing the nonlinear resonant interaction of equatorial baroclinic and barotropic Rossby waves were derived by Majda and Biello and used as a model for long range interactions （teleconnections） between the tropical and midlatitude troposphere. An overview of that derivation is nonlinear wave theory, but not in atmospheric presented and geared to readers versed in sciences. In the course of the derivation, two other sets of asymptotic equations are presented： the long equatorial wave equations and the weakly nonlinear, long equatorial wave equations. A linear transformation recasts the amplitude equations as nonlinear and linearly coupled KdV equations governing the amplitude of two types of modes, each of which consists of a coupled tropical/midlatitude flow. In the limit of Rossby waves with equal dispersion, the transformed amplitude equations become two KdV equations coupled only through nonlinear fluxes. Four numerical integrations are presented which show （i） the interaction of two solitons, one from either mode, （ii） and （iii） the interaction of a soliton in the presence of different mean wind shears, and （iv） the interaction of two solitons mediated by the presence of a mean wind shear.     

Method of accelerated convergence for the construction of solutions of a Noetherian boundary-value problem

We study the problem of finding conditions for the existence of solutions of weakly nonlinear Noetherian boundary-value problems for systems of ordinary differential equations and the construction of these solutions. A new iterative procedure with accelerated convergence is proposed for the construction of solutions of a weakly nonlinear Noetherian boundary-value problem for a system of ordinary differential equations in the critical case. Translated from Ukrains’kyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 60, No. 12, pp. 1587–1601, December, 2008.     

On the Computation of Nonlinear Planetary Waves

A numerical method is developed to solve a class of nonlinear, nonlocal eigenvalue problems defined in an infinite strip, and is applied to compute solitary planetary waves in a sheared zonal current on the beta-plane. This method, an iterative procedure derived from the natural variational structure of these problems, is implemented in the physical case when the ambient parallel flow has a linear or a quadratic velocity profile. The results of the numerical experiments establish rigorous limits on the range of validity of the formal asymptotic theory of weakly nonlinear long waves, and also reveal some new phenomena involving strongly nonlinear waves. The iterative procedure is analyzed in a general setting, and is shown to be globally convergent without restriction on the wave amplitude.     

On an aggregation model with long and short range interactions

In recent papers the authors had proposed a stochastic model for swarm aggregation, based on individuals subject to long range attraction and short range repulsion, in addition to a classical Brownian random dispersal. Under suitable laws of large numbers they showed that, for a large number of individuals, the evolution of the empirical distribution of the population can be expressed in terms of an approximating nonlinear degenerate and nonlocal parabolic equation, which describes the limit.In this paper the well-posedness of such evolution equation is investigated, which invokes a notion of entropy solutions extended to the nonlocal case. We motivate entropy solutions from the discrete particle system and use them to prove uniqueness. Moreover, we provide existence results and discuss some basic properties of solutions. Finally, we apply a Lagrangian numerical scheme to perform numerical simulations in spatial dimension one.     

Weakly nonlinear boundary-value problem in a special critical case

We investigate the problem of the determination of conditions for the existence of solutions of weakly nonlinear Noetherian boundary-value problems for systems of ordinary differential equations and the construction of these solutions. We consider the special critical case where the equation for finding the generating solution of a weakly nonlinear Noetherian boundary-value problem turns into an identity. We improve the classification of critical cases and construct an iterative algorithm for finding solutions of weakly nonlinear Noetherian boundary-value problems in the special critical case.     

Asymptotic Solution of the Weakly Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation with Variable Coefficients

A perturbation method based on Fourier analysis and multiple scales is introduced for solving weakly nonlinear, dispersive wave propagation problems with Fourier-transformable initial conditions. Asymptotic solutions are derived for the weakly nonlinear cubic Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients, and verified by comparison with numerical solutions. In the special case of constant coefficients, the asymptotic solution agrees to leading order with previously derived results in the literature; in general, this is not true to higher orders. Therefore previous asymptotic results for the strongly nonlinear Schrödinger equation can be valid only for restricted initial conditions.     

Global attractors for von Karman evolutions with a nonlinear boundary dissipation

Dynamic von Karman equations with a nonlinear boundary dissipation are considered. Questions related to long time behaviour, existence and structure of global attractors are studied. It is shown that a nonlinear boundary dissipation with a large damping parameter leads to an existence of global (compact) attractor for all weak (finite energy) solutions. This result has been known in the case of full interior dissipation, but it is new in the case when the boundary damping is the main dissipative mechanism in the system. In addition, we prove that fractal dimension of the attractor is finite. The proofs depend critically on the infinite speed of propagation associated with the von Karman model considered.     

New Approximations and Tests of Linear Fluctuation-Response for Chaotic Nonlinear Forced-Dissipative Dynamical Systems

We develop and test two novel computational approaches for predicting the mean linear response of a chaotic dynamical system to small change in external forcing via the fluctuation–dissipation theorem. Unlike the earlier work in developing fluctuation–dissipation theorem-type computational strategies for chaotic nonlinear systems with forcing and dissipation, the new methods are based on the theory of Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen probability measures, which commonly describe the equilibrium state of such dynamical systems. The new methods take into account the fact that the dynamics of chaotic nonlinear forced-dissipative systems often reside on chaotic fractal attractors, where the classical quasi-Gaussian formula of the fluctuation–dissipation theorem often fails to produce satisfactory response prediction, especially in dynamical regimes with weak and moderate degrees of chaos. A simple new low-dimensional chaotic nonlinear forced-dissipative model is used to study the response of both linear and nonlinear functions to small external forcing in a range of dynamical regimes with an adjustable degree of chaos. We demonstrate that the two new methods are remarkably superior to the classical fluctuation–dissipation formula with quasi-Gaussian approximation in weakly and moderately chaotic dynamical regimes, for both linear and nonlinear response functions. One straightforward algorithm gives excellent results for short-time response while the other algorithm, based on systematic rational approximation, improves the intermediate and long time response predictions.     

Nonlinear Transition Layers—The Second Painleve Transcendent

We investigate a large class of weakly nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations with slowly varying coefficients. We show that the standard two-timing perturbation solution is not valid during the transition from oscillatory to exponentially decaying behavior. In all cases this difficulty is remedied by a nonlinear transition layer, whose leading-order character is described by one special nonlinear differential equation known as the second Painlevé transcendent (in essence a nonlinear Airy equation). The method of matched asymptotic expansions yields the desired connection formula. The second Painlevé transcendent also provides two other types of transitions: (1) between weakly nonlinear solutions (either oscillatory or exponentially decaying) and special fully nonlinear solutions, and (2) between two of these special nonlinear solutions. These special solutions are of three: different kinds: (a) slowly varying stable equilibrium solutions, (b) “exploding” solutions, and (c) solutions depending on both the fast and slow scales (which emerge from the unstable zero equilibrium solution).     

Global existence for a system of weakly coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations

This paper discusses the weakly coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations in the supercritical case. With the best constant of the Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequality, we derive a sufficient condition for the global existence of solutions; this condition is expressed in terms of stationary solutions (nonlinear ground state).