Electrohydrodynamic wave-packet collapse and soliton instability for dielectric fluids in (2 + 1)-dimensions

A weakly nonlinear theory of wave propagation in two superposed dielectric fluids in the presence of a horizontal electric field is investigated using the multiple scales method in (2 + 1)-dimensions. The equation governing the evolution of the amplitude of the progressive waves is obtained in the form of a two-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We convert this equation for the evolution of wave packets in (2 + 1)-dimensions, using the function transformation method, into an exponentional and a Sinh-Gordon equation, and obtain classes of soliton solutions for both the elliptic and hyperbolic cases. The phenomenon of nonlinear focusing or collapse is also studied. We show that the collapse is direction-dependent, and is more pronounced at critical wavenumbers, and dielectric constant ratio as well as the density ratio. The applied electric field was found to enhance the collapsing for critical values of these parameters. The modulational instability for the corresponding one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation is discussed for both the travelling and standing waves cases. It is shown, for travelling waves, that the governing evolution equation admits solitary wave solutions with variable wave amplitude and speed. For the standing wave, it is found that the evolution equation for the temporal and spatial modulation of the amplitude and phase of wave propagation can be used to show that the monochromatic waves are stable, and to determine the amplitude dependence of the cutoff frequencies. Copyright EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2004