Mathematics and Computers in Simulation 70 (2005) 221–226

Cnoidal wave solutions for a class of fifth-order KdV equations

A.H. Khatera,∗ , M.M. Hassanb , R.S. Temsaha
a Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Salah Salem Street, Beni-Suef 11711, Egypt
b Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, El-Minia, Egypt

Received 23 March 2005; received in revised form 22 August 2005; accepted 22 August 2005
Available online 20 October 2005

Abstract
A suitable ansatz and Jacobi elliptic function expansion method are used to construct new exact cnoidal wave solutions of the
modified fifth-order Korteweg-de Varies (KdV) equation and the generalized fifth-order KdV equation which includes, as special
cases, some well-known equations. When the modulus of the Jacobi elliptic function m → 1, the corresponding solitary wave
solutions are also obtained.
© 2005 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
AMS subject classification: 35Q

Keywords: Generalized fifth-order KdV equation; Cnoidal wave solutions; Solitary wave solutions

1. Introduction

Nonlinear evolution equations (NLEEs) are widely used to describe many important dynamical systems in various
fields of science especially in physical science and searching for cnoidal wave solutions (CWSs) of such equations
is an important topic. Although many methods have been proposed [3,7,5,2,9,11] to find the exact solutions of some
NLEEs, most of these methods can only obtain such solutions in terms of hyperbolic functions. Malfliet [7] has
suggested the tanh-function method and Parkes et al. [9] have introduced the sech-function method to construct the
exact solutions of NLEEs. The symbolic software package have been developed [2] to compute such solutions in
terms of hyperbolic functions. Similarly, in order to find solutions in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions (JEFs) directly,
one can try the sn-function method, the cn-function method or the dn-function method. The latter kind of analysis is
recently developed and is currently of great interest [6,8]. A number of NLEEs admit CWSs in terms of JEFs [3,6,8].
Recently, the Jacobi elliptic function expansion method is developed and used to construct periodic wave solutions to
some nonlinear equations [6]. This method is more general than the tanh-function method. The Jacobi elliptic function
method [8] have been described in forms that are easily automated.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we describe the dn-function method for finding periodic wave
solutions of some NLEEs. Through this method, we need to introduce an ansatz equation that the JEF satisfy and
solve a system of algebraic equations. In Section 3, we apply the dn-function method to the generalized fifth-order
KdV equation, modified fifth-order KdV equation and the fifth-order KdV equation and obtain their exact CWSs. We

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 82327474; fax: +20 82330325.

E-mail address: khater ah@hotmail.com (A. Khater)

0378-4754/$30.00 © 2005 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.matcom.2005.08.001
222 A.H. Khater et al. / Mathematics and Computers in Simulation 70 (2005) 221–226

also consider some physical models of such equations. As a limit case, we obtain the solitary wave solutions of the
considered equations.

2. The dn-function method

Consider a given nonlinear partial differential equation (NLPDE)

F (u, ut , ux , utt , uxx , . . .) = 0, (2.1)

where ut = ∂u ∂u
∂t , ux = ∂x , . . . etc. Let u(x, t) = u(ξ); ξ = x − ωt, where ω is the wave speed, then (2.1) is transformed
to the reduced ordinary differential equation
du
G(u, u , u , . . .) = 0, u = . (2.2)
dξ
We search for the solution of (2.2) in the form
N


u(x, t) = u(ξ) = Ai W i , (2.3)
i=0

where Ai (i = 0, 1, 2, . . . , N) are constants to be determined and W = W(ξ) satisfies the elliptic equation

(W  )2 = (a2 − W 2 )(W 2 − b2 ), a > b > 0, (2.4)

where a and b are parameters to be determined and N in Eq. (2.3) is a positive integer that can be determined by
balancing the linear term of highest order with the nonlinear term in Eq. (2.2). We can see that
√
W = a dn (a(x − ωt)|m), W = a 1 − m nd (a(x − ωt)|m), (2.5)

are the JEFs with the modulus m = a a−b

2 2
are special solutions of Eq. (2.4), where, dn(aξ|m) and nd(aξ|m) = dn(aξ|m)
1
2 .
Substituting (2.3) into (2.2) and equating the coefficients of the like powers of W to zero leads to a system of
algebraic equations involving the parameters a, ω, m and Ai . Solving this system of algebraic equations, by the help of
Maple, thus we can construct the CWSs of the NLPDE (2.1). If a or any other parameter is left unspecified, then it is to
be regarded as arbitrary for the solution of NLPDE. In the limit m → 1, we have dn(aξ|m) −→ sech(kξ) and (2.3) with
(2.5) becomes a polynomial in sech, where k is a real nonzero constant. So, the dn-function method is more general
than the sech-function method [9] for finding solitary wave solutions. Some more properties of elliptic functions are
given in [1].

3. Applications

3.1. Cnoidal wave solutions for the generalized fifth-order KdV equation

We consider the generalized fifth-order KdV equation

ut + αuxxxxx + βuuxxx + γux uxx + δu2 ux = 0, (3.1)

where α, β, γ and δ are real constants. This model includes the Lax equation [3], Kaup-Kupershmidt equation (KKE)
[4] and Sawada-Kotera equation (SKE) [3,10].
Let u(x, t) = u(ξ), Eq. (3.1) is transformed to the reduced equation

− ωu + αu(5) + βuu + γu u + δu2 u = 0. (3.2)

Then, balancing βuu + γu u + δu2 u with αu(5) in (3.1) yields N = 2. Therefore, we obtain the cnoidal wave
solutions to (3.1) by assuming that the solution is of the form

u(x, t) = u(ξ) = A0 + A1 W + A2 W 2 . (3.3)

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Substituting (3.3) into (3.2) and equating the coefficients of like powers of W to zero, yields a set of algebraic equations
with respect to a, m, A0 , A1 , A2 and ω
[360α − 12βA2 − 6γA2 + δA22 ]A2 = 0, (3.4)
[24α − 6βA2 − 2γA2 + δA22 ]A1 = 0, (3.5)
4a A2 (2 − m)[A2 (β
2
+ γ) − 60α] − 12βA0 A2 − A21 (3β + γ) + 2δ(A21 A2 + A0 A22 ) = 0, (3.6)

−2ωA2 + 4A2 a4 [8α(2 − m)2 − γA2 (1 − m) + 36α(1 − m)]

+ a2 (2 − m)[8βA0 A2 + A21 (β + γ)] + 2δA20 (A2 + A21 ) = 0. (3.7)
It follows, from (3.4) and (3.5), that

3
A1 = 0, A2 = [γ + 2β ± (γ + 2β)2 − 40αδ], (3.8)
δ
it is obvious that the parameters α, β, γ, δ need to satisfy (γ + 2β)2 − 40αδ > 0.
From (3.6) and (3.7), we have the following cases:

Case 1. If 6β − δA2 = 0 and (β + γ)A2 − 60α = 0, then A0 = 0. Therefore, Eq. (3.1) has the following CWSs:
u = A2 a2 dn2 (a(x − ωt)|m), u = A2 a2 (1 − m)nd2 (a(x − ωt)|m), (3.9)
where ω = + 72α(1 − m) − 2γA2
[16α(2 − m)2 (1 − m)]a4 ,
a and m are arbitrary.
Case 2. If 6β − δA2 = 0 and (β + γ)A2 − 60α = 0, then A0 is an arbitrary constant. In this case, Eq. (3.1) has CWSs
in the form
u = A0 + A2 a2 dn2 (aξ|m), u = A0 + A2 a2 (1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m), (3.10)
where m, a and ω related by
ω = 4βA0 a2 (2 − m) + 2a4 [4α(2m2 − 17m + 17) − γA2 (1 − m)] + δA20 . (3.11)
Case 3. 6β − δA2 = 0, (β + γ)A2 − 60α = 0. Eq. (3.1) has the CWSs
u = A0 + A2 a2 dn2 (a(x − ωt|m)), u = A0 + A2 a2 (1 − m) nd2 (a(x − ωt|m)), (3.12)
where a and m are arbitrary, and A0 , ω are given by
2a2 (2 − m)[(β + γ)A2 − 60α] La4
A0 = , ω= ,
6β − δA2 (6β − δA2 )2
L = (2 − m)2 [(β + γ)A2 − 60α][48β2 + 4δ(γ − β)A2 − 240αδ]
+ (6β − δA2 )2 [16α(2 − m)2 + 72α(1 − m) − 2γA2 (1 − m)]. (3.13)
When m → 1, the solutions (3.9), (3.10) and (3.12) degenerate to solitary wave solutions.

Now we present some special cases of (3.1):

(1) Consider the SKE (α = 1, β = γ = 15, δ = 45), Eq. (3.8) gives A2 = 2 or A2 = 4. Substituting A2 = 2 into (3.10)
and (3.11) and A2 = 4 into (3.12) and (3.13), we obtain the following classes of CWSs for the SKE:
u = A0 + 2a2 dn2 (aξ|m), u = A0 + 2a2 (1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m), (3.14)
with ω = 4a4 (4m2 − 19m + 19) + 60a2 A 0 (2 − m) + 45A0 ,
2 and a, A0 are arbitrary constants,
1 1
u = 4a2 [ (m − 2) + dn2 (aξ|m)], u = 4a2 [ (m − 2) + (1 − m)nd2 (aξ|m)], (3.15)
3 3
with ω = 16a4 (m2 − m + 1), a arbitrary.
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If m → 1, then (3.14) and (3.15) become the solitary wave solutions of the SKE
u = k2 (A + 2 sech2 k(x − ωt)), ω = k4 (16 + 60A + 45A2 ),
1
u = 4k2 [− + sech2 k(x − ωt)], ω = 16k4 , (3.16)
3
respectively, A and k are arbitrary. These solutions are bell-shaped waves.
(2) The Lax equation (α = 1, β = 10, γ = 20, δ = 30). Inserting these values into (3.8), (3.10) and (3.12), we obtain
the following CWSs of the Lax equation:
u = A0 + 2a2 dn2 (a(x − ωt)|m), u = A0 + 2a2 (1 − m) nd2 (a(x − ωt)|m), (3.17)
with ω = 8a4 (2m2 − 7m + 7) + 40a2 A 0 (2 − m) + 30A0 , a, A0
2 arbitrary and
u = 2a2 [m − 2 + 3 dn2 (aξ|m)], u = 2a2 [m − 2 + 3(1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m)], (3.18)
with ω = 56a4 (m2 − m + 1). In the limit case when m → 1, then (3.17) and (3.18) become the solitary wave
solutions to the Lax equation
u = k2 [B + 2sech2 k(x − ωt)], ω = k4 (16 + 40B + 30B2 ), (3.19)
u = 2k2 [−1 + 3 sech2 k(x − ωt)], ω = 56k4 , (3.20)
where k and B are arbitrary.
(3) The KKE (α = 1, β = 10, γ = 25, δ = 20). Inserting these values into (3.8), (3.12) and (3.13), give the following
CWSs of the KKE:
u = 21 a2 [m − 2 + 3 dn2 (aξ|m)], u = 21 a2 [m − 2 + 3(1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m)], (3.21)
with ω = a4 (m2 − m + 1) and
u = 4a2 [m − 2 + 3 dn2 (aξ|m)], u = 4a2 [m − 2 + 3(1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m)], (3.22)
with ω = − m + 1), a and m are arbitrary.
176a4 (m2
(4) If we take (α = −1, β = γ = 0, δ > 0), then (3.1) becomes
ut + δu2 ux − uxxxxx = 0. (3.23)
Eqs. (3.8), (3.12) and (3.13) give the following solutions of (3.23):
 
10 2 10 2
u = ±2 a [m − 2 + 3 dn (aξ|m)],
2
u = ±2 a [m − 2 + 3(1 − m) nd2 (aξ|m)], (3.24)
δ δ
where ω = 24a4 (m2 − m + 1), a and m are arbitrary. The solutions (3.24) in terms of dn are equivalent to solutions
(3.2) in [8] as obtained by using sn-function method.

3.2. Cnoidal wave solutions for the modified fifth-order KdV equation

Let us consider the modified fifth-order KdV equation

ut + βu2 ux + c3 uxxx + c5 uxxxxx = 0, (3.25)
where β, c3 and c5 are constants. Analysis of the leading order terms gives us N = 2, and so we use the ansatz (3.3).
Substituting this ansatz into (3.25) and equating the coefficients of like powers of W to zero, we obtain four algebraic
equations. Thus, we find the following classes of cnoidal wave solutions of (3.25):
    1/2
3 c3 1 −c3 2βA0
u = A0 − A0 ± √ dn 2
±√ ξ|m ,
2−m −10βc5 4(2 − m) 5c5 −10βc5
    (1/2)
3(1 − m) c3 1 −c3 2βA0
u = A0 − A0 ± √ nd 2
±√ ξ|m , (3.26)
2−m −10βc5 4(2 − m) 5c5 −10βc5
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0 (m −m+1)
2 c32 (8m2 −23m+23)
with ω = 3βA5(2−m) 2
2c3
(A0 ± √−10βc )− 50c5 (2−m)2
, A0 and m being arbitrary constants. If m → 1, then we
5
obtain the solitary wave solutions
    1/2
c3 2 1 −c3 2βA0
u = A0 − 3 A0 ± √ sech ±√ (x − ωt) . (3.27)
−10βc5 2 5c5 −10βc5

With A0 set to be zero, (3.27) are the solutions given by Example 2 in [11].

3.3. Cnoidal wave solutions of the fifth-order KdV equation

We consider the fifth-order KdV equation

ut + c1 uux + c3 uxxx + c5 uxxxxx = 0, (3.28)

where c1 , c3 and c5 are real constants. Eq. (3.28) occurs, for example, in the theory of magneto-acoustic waves in
plasmas [8]. We notice that the cnoidal wave solutions of (3.28) cannot be obtained from (3.3). The dn-function
method gives the solution

u = A0 + A 2 W 2 + A4 W 4 , (3.29)

where A0 is arbitrary, and

280c3 1120c5 1680c5

A2 = + (2 − m)a2 , A4 = − ,
13c1 c1 c1
31c32 280c3 112c5 2
ω = A0 c1 − + (2 − m)a2 − (m + 14m − 14)a4 ,
507c5 39 3
31c33
260c53 (2 − m)(2m − 1)(m + 1)a6 − 21c3 c52 (m2 − m + 1)a4 + = 0, (3.30)
2704
With m → 1 in (3.29) and (3.30), the solitary-wave solution to (3.28) given in [9] is recovered. If we put c1 = c3 = 1,
and c5 = −1 in (3.30), then the solution (3.29) with W = a dn(aξ|m) coincides with the solution given in [8] using
sn-function method.
In summary, we have applied the dn-function method to the generalized fifth-order KdV equation, modified fifth-
order KdV equation and the fifth-order KdV equation and constructed the CWSs. Some special cases of such equations
are considered and their solutions are obtained. Also, we have obtained the solutions in terms of the function nd, which
are not obtained in [6,8]. It is shown that these solutions degenerate into solitary-wave solutions in the appropriate limit
m → 1. The dn-function method presented here is a powerful technique to search for CWSs of some other nonlinear
evolution and wave equations of mathematical physics.

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