Water waves for small surface tension: an approach via normal form

Abstract

In this paper we determine the possible crest-forms of permanent waves of small amplitude which exist on the free surface of a two-dimensional fluid layer under the influence of gravity and surface tension when the Froude number is close to 1. The Bond number b, measuring surface tension, is assumed to satisfy b < ⅓. We find one-parameter families of periodic waves of two different types, quasiperiodic waves and solitary waves with oscillations at infinity. The existence of true solitary waves is established for a sequence of systems approximating the full Euler equations in every algebraic order of − 1.