Francesco Fedele

Denys Dutykh, Marx Chhay, Francesco Fedele

Geometric discretizations that preserve certain Hamiltonian structures at the discrete level has been proven to enhance the accuracy of numerical schemes. In particular, numerous symplectic and multi-symplectic schemes have been proposed to solve numerically the celebrated Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. In this work, we show that geometrical schemes are as much robust and accurate as Fourier-type pseudo-spectral methods for computing the long-time KdV dynamics, and thus more suitable to model complex nonlinear wave phenomena.

Francesco Fedele, Denys Dutykh

Recently, Dyachenko & Zakharov (2011) have derived a compact form of the well known Zakharov integro-differential equation for the third order Hamiltonian dynamics of a potential flow of an incompressible, infinitely deep fluid with a free surface. Special traveling wave solutions of this compact equation are numerically constructed using the Petviashvili method. Their stability properties are also investigated. Further, unstable traveling waves with wedge-type singularities, viz. peakons, are numerically discovered. To gain insights into the properties of singular traveling waves, we consider the academic case of a perturbed version of the compact equation, for which analytical peakons with exponential shape are derived. Finally, by means of an accurate Fourier-type spectral scheme it is found that smooth solitary waves appear to collide elastically, suggesting the integrability of the Zakharov equation.

Naijia Xiao, Francesco Fedele, Rafi Muhanna

We present an interval-based approach for parameter identification in structural static inverse problems. The proposed inverse formulation exploits the Interval Finite Element Method (IFEM) combined with adjoint-based optimization. The inversion consists of a two-step algorithm: first, an estimate of the parameters is obtained by means of a deterministic iterative solver. Then, the algorithm switches to the interval extension of the previous solver, using the deterministic estimate of the parameters as an initial guess. The iterations are terminated based on a new containment-stopping criterion, which is intrinsic to intervals. Various numerical examples show that the proposed method provides guaranteed interval enclosures of the parameters.

Francesco Fedele, Denys Dutykh

We present a study on the nonlinear dynamics of a disturbance to the laminar state in non-rotating axisymmetric Poiseuille pipe flows. The associated Navier-Stokes equations are reduced to a set of coupled generalized Camassa-Holm type equations. These support singular inviscid travelling waves with wedge-type singularities, the so called peakons, which bifurcate from smooth solitary waves as their celerity increase. In physical space they correspond to localized toroidal vortices or vortexons. The inviscid vortexon is similar to the nonlinear neutral structures found by Walton (2011) and it may be a precursor to puffs and slugs observed at transition, since most likely it is unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances.