Asymptotic expansions for solitary gravity-capillary waves in two and three dimensions

Abstract

High-order asymptotic series are obtained for two- and three-dimensional gravity-capillary solitary waves. In two dimensions, the first term in the asymptotic series is the well-known sech 2 solution of the Korteweg–de Vries equation; in three dimensions, the first term is the rational lump solution of the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation I. The two-dimensional series is used (with nine terms included) to investigate how small surface tension affects the height and energy of large-amplitude waves and waves close to the solitary version of Stokes’ extreme wave. In particular, for small surface tension, the solitary wave with the maximum energy is obtained. For large surface tension, the two-dimensional series is also used to study the energy of depression solitary waves. Energy considerations suggest that, for large enough surface tension, there are solitary waves that can get close to the fluid bottom. In three dimensions, analytic solutions for the high-order perturbation terms are computed numerically, and the resulting asymptotic series (to three terms) is used to obtain the speed versus maximum amplitude curve for solitary waves subject to sufficiently large surface tension. Finally, the above asymptotic method is applied to the Benney–Luke (BL) equation, and the resulting asymptotic series (to three terms) is verified to agree with the solitary-wave solution of the BL equation.