STABILITY OF CAPILLARY-GRAVITY INTERFACIAL WAVES BETWEEN 2 BOUNDED FLUIDS

Two-dimensional periodic capillary-gravity waves at the interface between two bounded fluids of different densities are considered. Based on a variational formulation, the relation between wave frequency and wave amplitude is obtained through a weakly nonlinear analysis. All classes of space-periodic waves are studied: traveling and standing waves as well as a degenerate class of mixed waves. As opposed to water waves, mixed interfacial waves exist even for pure gravity waves. The stability of traveling and standing waves with respect to three-dimensional modulations is then studied. By using the method of multiple scales, Davey-Stewartson-type equations are obtained. A detailed stability analysis is performed in three cases: pure gravity waves, capillary-gravity waves when one layer is infinitely deep, and capillary-gravity waves when both layers are infinitely deep. The main results for oblique (i.e., combined longitudinal and transverse) modulations reveal a mostly stabilizing effect of the density ratio for traveling waves and a destabilizing effect for standing waves. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.