Nonlinear ring waves in a two-layer fluid

Abstract

Surface and interfacial weakly-nonlinear ring waves in a two-layer fluid are modelled numerically, within the framework of the recently derived 2+1-dimensional cKdV-type equation. In a case study, we consider concentric waves from a localised initial condition and waves in a 2D version of the dam-break problem, as well as discussing the effect of a piecewise-constant shear flow. The modelling shows, in particular, the formation of 2D dispersive shock waves (DSWs) and oscillatory wave trains. The surface and interfacial DSWs generated in our numerical experiments look distinctively different.