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Published November 1, 1987 | Published
Journal Article Open

Symmetry breaking in periodic and solitary gravity-capillary waves on water of finite depth

Abstract

A weakly nonlinear model is developed from the Hamiltonian formulation of water waves, to study the bifurcation structure of gravity-capillary waves on water of finite depth. It is found that, besides a very rich structure of symmetric solutions, non-symmetric Wilton's ripples exist. They appear via a spontaneous symmetry breaking bifurcation from symmetric solutions. The bifurcation tree is similar to that for gravity waves. The solitary wave with surface tension is studied with the same model close to a critical depth. It is found that the solution is not unique, and that further non-symmetric solitary waves are possible. The bifurcation tree has the same structure as for the case of periodic waves. The possibility of checking these results in low-gravity experiments is postulated.

Additional Information

© 1987 Cambridge University Press. Received 23 September 1986; Published online 21 April 2006. I am indebted to Professor P. G. Saffman for his encouragement and valuable advice during the course of the research. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research (N00014-79-C-0412, NR062-639) and by the National Science Foundation (OCE-8415988). I also wish to acknowledge receipt of a Fulbright award.

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August 19, 2023
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