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

Abstract

High-order asymptotic series are obtained for gravity-capillary solitary waves, where the first term in the series is the well-known sech2 solution of the KdV equation. The asymptotic series is used, with nine terms included, to investigate the effects of surface tension on the height and energy of large amplitude waves, and waves close to the solitary version of Stokes' extreme wave. In particular, for surface tension below a critical value, the solitary wave with the maximum energy is obtained. For large surface tension, the series is also used to study the energy related to the solitary waves of depression. Energy considerations suggest that, for large enough surface tension, there are solitary waves that can get close to the fluid bottom. Comparisons are also made with recent experiments.