Instability of Near-Extreme Solutions to the Whitham Equation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of near-extreme periodic solutions to the Whitham equation, revealing Hamiltonian oscillations and bifurcations associated with wave steepness, and compares findings with Euler equations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of the stability of large-steepness solutions to the Whitham equation, highlighting Hamiltonian oscillations and bifurcation phenomena.

Findings

Hamiltonian oscillates with wave steepness

Superharmonic instabilities occur at Hamiltonian extrema

Stability spectra undergo bifurcations between extrema

Abstract

The Whitham equation is a model for the evolution of small-amplitude, unidirectional waves of all wavelengths on shallow water. It has been shown to accurately model the evolution of waves in laboratory experiments. We compute $2\pi$-periodic traveling-wave solutions of the Whitham equation and numerically study their stability with a focus on solutions with large steepness. We show that the Hamiltonian oscillates as a function of wave steepness when the solutions are sufficiently steep. We show that a superharmonic instability is created at each extremum of the Hamiltonian and that between each extremum the stability spectra undergo similar bifurcations. Finally, we compare these results with those from the Euler equations.