Chapter 8

Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

8.1 Introduction

So far in this text we have been mainly concerned in applying classic methods, the
Adomian decomposition method [3–5], and the variational iteration method [8–10]
in studying first order and second order linear partial differential equations. In this
chapter, we will focus our study on the nonlinear partial differential equations. The
nonlinear partial differential equations arise in a wide variety of physical problems
such as fluid dynamics, plasma physics, solid mechanics and quantum field theory.
Systems of nonlinear partial differential equations have been also noticed to arise in
chemical and biological applications. The nonlinear wave equations and the solitons
concept have introduced remarkable achievements in the field of applied sciences.
The solutions obtained from nonlinear wave equations are different from the solu-
tions of the linear wave equations [1–2].
Recently, a special type of KdV equation has been under a thorough investi-
gation and new phenomenon was observed. It was discovered that when the wave
dispersion is purely nonlinear, some features may be observed which is the existence
of the so-called compactons: solitons with finite wave length [12]. As will be dis-
cussed in Chapter 9, solitons appear as a result of balance between weak nonlinearity
and dispersion. The characteristics of the solitons and the compactons concepts will
be addressed in Chapter 11.
It is important to note that several traditional methods, such as the method of
characteristics and the variational principle, are among the methods that are used to
handle the nonlinear partial differential equations. Moreover, nonlinear partial dif-
ferential equations are not easy to handle especially if the questions of uniqueness
and stability of solutions are to be discussed. It is interesting to point out that the
superposition principle, that we used for the linear partial differential equations, can-
not be applied to nonlinear partial differential equations. For this reason numerical
solutions are usually established for nonlinear partial differential equations.
It is well known that a general method for determining analytical solutions
for partial differential equations has not been found among traditional methods.
286 8 Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

However, we believe that the Adomian decomposition method, the noise terms
phenomenon [13], and the related modification [14] presented in previous chap-
ters provide an effective, reliable, and powerful tool for handling nonlinear partial
differential equations. Moreover, the variational iteration method gives an effective
tool to handle nonlinear partial differential equations without any need to the so-
called Adomian polynomials.
In Chapter 2, a detailed outline about the works conducted on Adomian’s method,
the implementation of this method to many scientific models and frontier physics
problems, and the comparisons of this method with existing techniques were in-
troduced. The convergence concept of the decomposition series was thoroughly in-
vestigated by many researchers to confirm the rapid convergence of the resulting
series. Cherruault examined the convergence of Adomian’s method in [6]. In addi-
tion, Cherruault and Adomian presented a new proof of convergence of the method
in [7].
However, Adomian decomposition method does not assure on its own existence
and uniqueness of the solution. In fact, it can be safely applied when a fixed point
theorem holds. A theorem developed by Re’paci [11] indicates that the decompo-
sition method can be used as an algorithm for the approximation of the dynami-
cal response in a sequence of time intervals [0,t1 ), [t1 ,t2 ), · · · , [tn−1 , T ) such that the
condition at t p is taken as initial condition in the interval [t p ,t p+1 ) which follows.
Unlike the preceding chapters, we will apply only the Adomian decomposition
method, all related phenomena, and the variational iteration method in discussing
the topic of nonlinear partial differential equations. This is due to the fact that the
methods are efficient in that these two methods provide the solution in a rapidly
convergent series and reduce the volume of computational work.
The nonlinear partial differential equation was defined in Chapter 1. The first
order nonlinear partial differential equation in two independent variables x and y
can be generally expressed in the form

F(x, y, u, ux , uy ) = f , (8.1)

where f is a function of one or two of the independent variables x and y. Similarly,

the second order nonlinear partial differential equation in two independent variables
x and y can be expressed by

F(x, y, u, ux , uy , uxx , uxy , uyy ) = f . (8.2)

The nonlinear partial differential equation is called homogeneous if f = 0, and inho-

mogeneous if f = 0. Examples of the first order nonlinear partial differential equa-
tions are given by

ut + 2uux = 0, (8.3)
ux − u2 uy = 0, (8.4)
ux + uuy = 6x, (8.5)
ut + uux = sin x, (8.6)