We prove that the finite-depth pure-capillary rigidity mechanism in the irrotational water-wave problem is destroyed by a suitable constant-vorticity critical shear. More precisely, we construct small-amplitude finite-depth pure capillary solitary waves for the two-dimensional free-boundary Euler equations with nonzero constant vorticity and zero gravity. The waves bifurcate from a critical shear flow whose relative horizontal velocity vanishes at the bed, so that the standard Dubreil--Jacotin no-stagnation formulation is singular at the asymptotic state. We therefore formulate the traveling-wave problem directly as a Hamiltonian spatial-dynamics system in flattened Euler variables, remove a nonlinear boundary condition from the domain of the vector field, and verify the spectral and resolvent hypotheses needed for a two-dimensional center-manifold reduction. A parameter-dependent Darboux transformation and a cubic expansion of the reduced Hamiltonian yield, under a long-wave scaling, a stationary KdV equation. Its reversible homoclinic orbit persists under the full reduced dynamics and gives a family of small-amplitude waves of depression.
We prove that the 2D finite depth capillary water wave equations admit no solitary wave solutions. This closes the existence/non-existence problem for solitary water waves in 2D, under the classical assumptions of incompressibility and irrotationality, and with the physical parameters being gravity, surface tension and the fluid depth.
The aim of this paper is to prove the existence of gravity-capillary Crapper waves with the presence of vorticity. In particular, we consider a concentrated vorticity: point vortex and vortex patch. We show that for small gravity and small vorticity it is possible to demonstrate that the waves are overhanging.
A fundamental question in the study of water waves is the existence and stability of solitary waves. Solitary waves have been proved to exist and have been studied in many interesting situations, and often arise from the balance of different forces/factors influencing the fluid dynamics, e.g. gravity, surface tension or the fluid bottom. However, the existence of solitary waves has remained an open problem in two of the simplest cases, namely for either pure gravity waves or pure capillary waves in infinite depth. In this article we settle both of these questions in two space dimensions. Preci…
In this paper, we consider capillary-gravity waves propagating on the interface separating two fluids of finite depth and constant density. The flow in each layer is assumed to be incompressible and of constant vorticity. We prove the existence of small-amplitude solitary wave solutions to this system in the strong surface tension regime via a spatial dynamics approach. We then use a variant of the classical Grillakis--Shatah--Strauss (GSS) method to study the orbital stability/instability of these waves. We find an explicit function of the parameters (Froude number, Bond number, and the depth…
We study the existence of traveling wave solutions to a unidirectional shallow water model which incorporates the full linear dispersion relation for both gravitational and capillary restoring forces. Using functional analytic techniques, we show that for small surface tension (corresponding to Bond numbers between $0$ and ${1}/{3}$) there exists small amplitude solitary waves that decay to asymptotically small periodic waves at spatial infinity. The size of the oscillations in the far field are shown to be small beyond all algebraic orders in the amplitude of the wave. We also present numeric…
This paper considers two-dimensional steady solitary waves with constant vorticity propagating under the influence of gravity over an impermeable flat bed. Unlike in previous works on solitary waves, we allow for both internal stagnation points and overhanging wave profiles. Using analytic global bifurcation theory, we construct continuous curves of large-amplitude solutions. Along these curves, either the wave amplitude approaches the maximum possible value, the dimensionless wave speed becomes unbounded, or a singularity develops in a conformal map describing the fluid domain. We also show t…
Using a nonlocal version of the center manifold theorem and a normal form reduction, we prove the existence of small-amplitude generalized solitary-wave solutions and modulated solitary-wave solutions to the steady gravity-capillary Whitham equation with weak surface tension. Through the application of the center manifold theorem, the nonlocal equation for the solitary wave profiles is reduced to a four-dimensional system of ODEs inheriting reversibility. Along particular parameter curves, relating directly to the classical gravity-capillary water wave problem, the associated linear operator i…
We consider a multi-fluid system with several free interfaces. For this system we prove existence of three-dimensional steady gravity-capillary waves with non-zero vorticity. We obtain non-zero vorticity by prescribing the relative velocity fields to be Beltrami fields, for which the vorticity and velocity are parallel. The main result is a multi-parameter bifurcation result for small amplitude waves given in two variants: a first theorem guaranteeing existence under some general parameter assumptions; and a second specific but less exhaustive theorem, for which the assumptions may be explicit…
Fully localised solitary waves are travelling-wave solutions of the three-dimensional gravity-capillary water wave problem which decay to zero in every horizontal spatial direction. Their existence for water of finite depth has recently been established, and in this article we present an existence theory for water of infinite depth. The governing equations are reduced to a perturbation of the two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which admits a family of localised solutions. Two of these solutions are symmetric in both horizontal directions and an application of a suitable version of…
We prove an almost global in time existence result of small amplitude space periodic solutions of the 1D gravity-capillary water waves equations with constant vorticity. The result holds for any value of gravity, vorticity and depth and any surface tension belonging to a full measure set. The proof demands a Hamiltonian paradifferential Birkhoff normal form reduction for quasi-linear PDEs in presence of resonant wave interactions: the normal form may be not integrable but it preserves the Sobolev norms thanks to its Hamiltonian nature. A major difficulty is that usual paradifferential calculus…
We prove the nonexistence of two-dimensional solitary gravity water waves with subcritical wave speeds and an arbitrary distribution of vorticity. This is a longstanding open problem, and even in the irrotational case there are only partial results relying on sign conditions or smallness assumptions. As a corollary, we obtain a relatively complete classification of solitary waves: they must be supercritical, symmetric, and monotonically decreasing on either side of a central crest. The proof introduces a new function which is related to the so-called flow force and has several surprising prope…
We prove the first bifurcation result of time quasi-periodic traveling waves solutions for space periodic water waves with vorticity. In particular we prove existence of small amplitude time quasi-periodic solutions of the gravity-capillary water waves equations with constant vorticity, for a bidimensional fluid over a flat bottom delimited by a space-periodic free interface. These quasi-periodic solutions exist for all the values of depth, gravity and vorticity, and restricting the surface tension to a Borel set of asymptotically full Lebesgue measure.
The two-dimensional free-boundary problem describing steady gravity waves with vorticity on water of finite depth is considered. Under the assumption that the vorticity is a negative constant whose absolute value is sufficiently large, we construct a solution with the following properties. The corresponding flow is unidirectional at infinity and has a solitary wave of elevation as its upper boundary; under this unidirectional flow, there is a bounded domain adjacent to the bottom, which surrounds an interior stagnation point and is divided into two subdomains with opposite directions of flow b…
This paper considers the existence and stability properties of two-dimensional solitary waves traversing an infinitely deep body of water. We assume that above the water is vacuum, and that the waves are acted upon by gravity with surface tension effects on the air--water interface. In particular, we study the case where there is a finite dipole in the bulk of the fluid, that is, the vorticity is a sum of two weighted $δ$-functions. Using an implicit function theorem argument, we construct a family of solitary waves solutions for this system that is exhaustive in a neighborhood of $0$. Our mai…
We show the existence of periodic traveling waves at the free surface of a two dimensional, infinitely deep, and constant vorticity flow, under gravity, whose profiles are overhanging, including one which intersects itself to enclose a bubble of air. Numerical evidence has long suggested such overhanging and touching waves, but a rigorous proof has been elusive. Crapper's celebrated capillary waves in an irrotational flow have recently been shown to yield an exact solution to the problem for zero gravity, and our proof uses the implicit function theorem to construct nearby solutions for weak g…
We study stationary capillary-gravity waves in a two-dimensional body of water that rests above a flat ocean bed and below vacuum. This system is described by the Euler equations with a free surface. Our main result states that there exist large families of such waves that carry finite energy and exhibit an exponentially localized distribution of (nontrivial) vorticity. This is accomplished by combining ideas drawn from the theory of spike-layer solutions to singularly perturbed elliptic equations, with techniques from the study of steady solutions of the water wave problem.
