Long-wave equation for a confined ferrofluid interface: Periodic interfacial waves as dissipative solitons

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a ferrofluid thin film confined in a Hele-Shaw cell, and subjected to a tilted nonuniform magnetic field. It is shown that the interface between the ferrofluid and an inviscid outer fluid (air) supports traveling waves, governed by a novel modified Kuramoto--Sivashinsky-type equation derived under the long-wave approximation. The balance between energy production and dissipation in this long-wave equations allows for the existence of dissipative solitons. These permanent traveling waves' propagation velocity and profile shape are shown to be tunable via the external magnetic field. A multiple-scale analysis is performed to obtain the correction to the linear prediction of the propagation velocity, and to reveal how the nonlinearity arrests the linear instability. The traveling periodic interfacial waves discovered are identified as fixed points in an energy phase plane. It is shown that transitions between states (wave profiles) occur. These transitions are explained via the spectral stability of the traveling waves. Interestingly, multiperiodic waves, which are a non-integrable analog of the double cnoidal wave, are also found to propagate under the model long-wave equation. These multiperiodic solutions are investigated numerically, and they are found to be long-lived transients, but ultimately abruptly transition to one of the stable periodic states identified.