Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282

www.elsevier.com/locate/na
New exact compacton, peakon and solitary solutions of the
generalized Boussinesq-like B(m, n) equations with nonlinear
dispersion
Lijun Zhang
a,b
, Li-Qun Chen
b,c,
, Xuwen Huo
d
a
School of Science, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, PR China
b
Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, PR China
c
Department of Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China
d
School of Information and Electronic, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, PR China
Received 22 September 2006; accepted 20 October 2006
Abstract
In this paper, exact solutions of the generalized Boussinesq-like B(m, n) equation with nonlinear dispersion u
t t
+ a(u
n
)
xx
+
b(u
m
)
xxxx
= 0, m, n R are investigated. As a result, under different parameter conditions, abundant compactons, peakons and
solitary solutions, which include not only some known results but also some new ones, are obtained. The approach we used is
simple and also suitable for studying the traveling wave solutions of some other equations.
c 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Boussinesq-like B(m, n) equations; Nonlinear wave equation; Solitary solution; Compacton solution; Peakon solution; Periodic cusp
wave solution
1. Introduction
To understand the role of nonlinear dispersion in the formation of patterns in liquid drops, Rosenau and Hyman [7]
introduced and studied a family of fully nonlinear KdV equations K(m, n):
u
t
+(u
m
)
x
+(u
n
)
xxx
= 0, m > 0, 1 < n 3. (1)
A class of solitary waves (which they named compactons) with the special property that after colliding with other
compacton solutions, they re-emerge with the same coherent shape was presented. From then on, compacton solutions
attracted a lot of interest [5,1016]. You can refer to [3,4,8] for example for more details about the properties of
compacton solutions. Compacton solutions and solitary solutions of other nonlinear evolution equations such as
Boussinesq equations and Boussinesq-like B(m, n) equations had been extensively investigated by many authors [11,
1315,17]. Recently, Yan [11] introduced a class of fully Boussinesq equations B(m, n)
u
t t
= (u
n
)
xx
+(u
m
)
xxxx
, m, n R, (2)

Corresponding author at: Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, PR China.
E-mail addresses: li-jun0608@163.com (L. Zhang), lqchen@staff.shu.edu.cn, li-qunchen@163.com (L.-Q. Chen).
0362-546X/$ - see front matter c 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.na.2006.10.009
L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282 3277
and presented some of its compacton solutions when m = n. Liu et al. [6] utilized the integral approach to investigate
its compacton solutions. More recently, Zhu [1315] studied Boussinesq-like B(m, n) equations
u
t t
+(u
n
)
xx
(u
m
)
xxxx
= 0, m, n > 1, (3)
u
t t
(u
n
)
xx
+(u
m
)
xxxx
= 0, m, n > 1 (4)
and
u
t t
+(u
2n
)
xx
+(u
2n
)
xxxx
= 0, n 1, (5)
by using the extended decomposition method.
In this paper, we will investigate a more generalized form of the above equations
u
t t
+a(u
n
)
xx
+b(u
m
)
xxxx
= 0, m, n R. (6)
Obviously, Eq. (6) is a very extensive equation. Eqs. (2)(5) are only the special cases of Eq. (6) when the absolute
values of a and b are 1. When a = b = 1 and (m, n) = (1, 2), Eq. (6) becomes the well-known Boussinesq equation.
When a = b = 1 and (m, n) = (1, 3), Eq. (6) becomes the modied Boussinesq equation which arises from the
famous FermiPastaUlam problem [1]. The integral approach has been successfully used to investigate traveling
wave solutions of integral nonlinear evolution equation by many authors [2,5,6,9,12,18]. We deduce Eq. (6) for a
planar integral dynamical system by a simple transformation and then obtain its explicit formulae for the compacton,
solitary solutions and so on by using the integral approach.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we make a reduction of Eq. (6) and present the concrete scheme of
the approach for solving the equation. We obtain the exact compacton solitons and solitary solution of the equations
B(m, m) and B(1, n) in Section 3. Finally, some discussion and conclusions are given in Section 4.
2. Reductions of Eq. (6)
Under the traveling wave transformation u(x, t ) = u(), = x ct , where c is the wave speed, Eq. (6) is reduced
to the following nonlinear ordinary equation:
c
2
d
2
u
d
2
+a
d
2
(u
n
)
d
2
+b
d
4
(u
m
)
d
4
= 0. (7)
Integrating Eq. (7) twice, we have
g +c
2
u +au
n
+b(u
m
)

= 0 (8)
where g is an integral constant and

denotes the derivative with respect to . Letting z = u

n1
(when n = 1),
Eq. (8) becomes
z
mn+1
n1
_
gz
m+n1
n1
+c
2
z
nm
n1
+az
nm
n1
+1
+
bm
n 1
_
z

+
m n +1
n 1
z

2
z
__
= 0. (9)
Eq. (9) is equivalent to a two dimensional system as follows:
z

= y, y

=
m n +1
n 1
y
2
z

n 1
bm
z
nm
n1
(az +c
2
)
n 1
bm
gz
1
m
n1
(10)
which has rst integral
H(z, y) = z
2
mn+1
n1
_
y
2
+2
(n 1)
2
bm
z
nm
n1
_
a
1
m +n
z
2
+c
2
1
m +1
z +
1
m
gz
n2
n1
__
= h. (11)
From (11) we get
y =
_
hz
2
mn+1
n1
2
(n 1)
2
bm
z
nm
n1
_
a
1
m +n
z
2
+c
2
1
m +1
z +
1
m
gz
n2
n1
_
. (12)
3278 L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282
Inserting Eq. (12) into the rst equation of (10), it follows that
dz
_
hz
2
mn+1
n1
2
(n1)
2
bm
z
nm
n1
_
a
1
m+n
z
2
+c
2
1
m+1
z +
1
m
gz
n2
n1
_
= d. (13)
It is easy to see that the traveling wave solutions of the generalized B(m, n) equation (6) can be obtained by using
the integral of Eq. (13). We will give the exact compactons, peakons and solitary wave solutions of Eq. (6) for concrete
m and n by integrating Eq. (13) and solving z in the following section.
3. Exact solutions of generalized B(n, n) and B(1, n)
In this section, for the case m = n or the case m = 1, the exact compactons, peakons and solitary wave solutions
of Eq. (6) are investigated.
3.1. Exact solutions of generalized B(n, n)
When m = n = 1 Eq. (13) becomes
dz
_
hz
2
1
n1
2
(n1)
2
bn
_
a
1
2n
z
2
+c
2
1
n+1
z +
1
n
gz
n2
n1
_
= d. (14)
Case 1. The B(2, 2) equation
When m = n = 2, letting h = 0, Eq. (14) is reduced to
dz
_

a
4b
_
_
z +
2c
2
3a
_
2

_
4c
4
18ag
9a
2
_
_
= d. (15)
Notice that z = 0 is a straight line of the system (10) when m n +1 = 0. For different values of the parameters a,
b, c and g, we can derive the traveling wave solutions of Eq. (10) from (15) as follows:
1. For ab > 0 and 4c
4
> 18ag > 0, there exists an explicit periodic wave solution
z =
2c
2
+
_
4c
4
18ag cos
__
a
b

2
_
3a
. (16)
2. For ab > 0 and g = 0, there exists an explicit compacton solution
z =
_
_
_

4c
2
3a
cos
2
__
a
b

4
_

_
a
b

2
0 otherwise.
(17)
3. For ab < 0 and g = 0, there exists an explicit peakon solution
z =
2c
2
3a
_
1 exp
__

a
b
||
2
__
. (18)
4. For ab < 0 and ag > 0, there exists an explicit periodic cusp wave solution
z =
2c
2
3a
+
_
4c
4
18ag cosh | 2kT|
3|a|
(2k 1)T 2kT (19)
where k is an integer and T = arch(
2c
2

4c
4
18ag
).
L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282 3279
Case 2. The B(n, n) equation (n = 1, 2)
Letting h = g = 0, Eq. (14) becomes
dz
_

a(n1)
2
bn
2
_
z
2
+c
2
2n
a(n+1)
z
_
= d. (20)
From (20), we get the solutions of Eq. (10) given by
z =
_
_
_

2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cos
2
__
a
b
n 1
2n

_

_
a
b
n 1
2n

2
0 otherwise
(21)
when ab > 0 and
z =
2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cosh
2
__

a
b
n 1
2n

_
(22)
when ab < 0. It is easy to see that Eq. (21) is a compacton solution and Eq. (22) is an unbounded solution of Eq. (10).
Exact traveling wave solutions of the generalized B(m, n)equation when m = n can be obtained by using the above
results. We describe this with the following theorems.
Theorem 3.1. When m = n = 2, Eq. (6) has the following exact solutions:
1. For ab > 0 and 4c
4
> 18ag > 0, there exists an explicit periodic wave solution
u(x, t ) =
2c
2
+
_
4c
4
18ag cos
_
1
2
_
a
b
(x ct )
_
3a
. (23)
2. For ab > 0 and g = 0, there exists an explicit compacton solution
u(x, t ) =
_
_
_

4c
2
3a
cos
2
_
1
4
_
a
b
(x ct )
_

1
4
_
a
b
(x ct )

2
0 otherwise.
(24)
3. For ab < 0 and g = 0, there exists an explicit peakon solution
u(x, t ) =
2c
2
3a
_
1 exp
_
1
2
_

a
b
|x ct |
__
. (25)
4. For ab < 0 and 4c
4
> 18ag > 0, there exists an explicit periodic cusp wave solution
u(x, t ) =
2c
2
3a
+
_
4c
4
18ag cosh |x ct 2kT|
3|a|
(2k 1)T x ct 2kT (26)
where k is an integer and T = arch(
2c
2

4c
4
18ag
).
Theorem 3.2. When m = n = 1 or 1, Eq. (6) has the following exact solutions:
1. For ab > 0, and n > 1, there exists the following explicit compacton solution:
u(x, t ) =
_

_
_

2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cos
2
__
a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )
__
1
n1

_
a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )

2
0 otherwise.
(27)
In particular, when n is a positive odd number and a < 0,
u(x, t ) =
_

2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cos
2
__
a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )
__
1
n1

_
a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )

2
0 otherwise
(28)
is also a compacton solution of Eq. (6).
3280 L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282
2. For ab < 0 and n < 1, there exists the following explicit solitary wave solution:
u(x, t ) =
_

2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cosh
2
__

a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )
__
1
n1
. (29)
In particular, when n is a negative odd number and a < 0,
u(x, t ) =
_

2c
2
n
a(n +1)
cosh
2
__

a
b
n 1
2n
(x ct )
__
1
n1
(30)
is also a solitary wave solution of Eq. (6).
Remark 1. Letting a = 1, b = 1, (27) is (50) in [11]. (35) and (36) in [15] are only special cases of (27) and (28)
when a = 1 and b = 1. Letting a = 1, b = 1, (29) is just the result (57) in [13]. Letting a = 1, b = 1, (29) and
(30) is just the result (54)(56) in [14].
Remark 2. We can also obtain the solution (53) in [13], which is an unbounded solution. Therefore we neglect it.
3.2. Exact solutions of generalized B(1, n)
When m = 1, Eq. (13) becomes
dz
_
hz
2
n2
n1
2
(n1)
2
b
z
_
a
1
1+n
z
2
+
c
2
2
z + gz
n2
n1
_
= d. (31)
Case 1. The B(1, 2) equation
When n = 2, Eq. (31) is reduced to
dz
_
h
2
b
z
_
a
3
z
2
+
c
2
2
z + g
_
= d. (32)
Dene f (z) = h
2
b
z(
a
3
z
2
+
c
2
2
z + g). Let z

(z
+
> z

) be the two real roots of the equation f

(z) = 0 when
c
4
4ag > 0, i.e. z

=
c
2
2a

c
4
4ag
2|a|
.
1. For the case of ab < 0, let h = z
2
+
(
3c
2
2a
+2z
+
); then
f (z) =
2a
3b
(z z
+
)
2
_
z +2z
+
+
3c
2
2a
_
. (33)
From (32), we get the following valley-shaped solitary wave solution of Eq. (10):
z =
c
2
2a
+
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|

3
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
sec h
2
_
_
_
c
4
4ag
b
2
_
1
4

2
_
_
. (34)
2. For the case of ab > 0, let h = z
2

(
3c
2
2a
+2z

); then
f (z) =
2a
3b
(z z

)
2
_
z +2z

+
3c
2
2a
_
. (35)
From (32), we get the following peak-shaped solitary wave solution of Eq. (10):
z =
c
2
2a

_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
+
3
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
sec h
2
_
_
_
c
4
4ag
b
2
_
1
4

2
_
_
. (36)
L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282 3281
Case 2. The B(1, n) equation (n = 1, 1)
Let h = g = 0; then Eq. (31) is reduced to
dz
z
_

2a(n1)
2
(1+n)b
_
z +
(n+1)c
2
2a
_
= d. (37)
From (37), we get the following solitary wave solution of Eq. (10):
z =
(n +1)c
2
2a
sec h
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b

_
(38)
when b < 0 and the following unbounded solution:
z =
(n +1)c
2
2a
sec
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b

_

(n 1)c
2

<

2
(39)
when b > 0.
Exact traveling wave solutions of generalized B(m, n) when m = 1 can be obtained by using the above results. We
describe this with the following two theorems.
Theorem 3.3. When m = 1 and n = 2, Eq. (6) has the following exact solutions.
1. When ab < 0 and c
4
4ag > 0, Eq. (6) has a solitary wave solution of valley form as follows:
u(x, t ) =
c
2
2a
+
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|

3
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
sec h
2
_
_
_
c
4
4ag
b
2
_
1
4
x ct
2
_
_
. (40)
2. When ab > 0 and c
4
4ag > 0, Eq. (6) has a solitary wave solution of peak form as follows:
u(x, t ) =
c
2
2a

_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
+
3
_
c
4
4ag
2|a|
sec h
2
_
_
_
c
4
4ag
b
2
_
1
4
x ct
2
_
_
. (41)
Theorem 3.4. When m = 1 and n = 1, 1, Eq. (6) has the following exact solutions.
1. When b < 0 and n > 1, Eq. (6) has a solitary wave solution as follows:
u(x, t ) =
_

(n +1)c
2
2a
sec h
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )
__
1
n1
. (42)
In particular, when n is an odd number and a < 0,
u(x, t ) =
_

(n +1)c
2
2a
sec h
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )
__
1
n1
(43)
is also a solitary wave solution of Eq. (6).
2. When b > 0 and n < 1, Eq. (6) has a compacton solution as follows:
u(x, t ) =
_

_
_

(n +1)c
2
2a
cos
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )
__
1
1n

(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )

2
0 otherwise.
(44)
In particular, when n is a negative odd number and a > 0,
u(x, t ) =
_

(n +1)c
2
2a
cos
2
_
(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )
__
1
1n

(n 1)c
2

b
(x ct )

2
0 otherwise
(45)
is also a compacton solution of Eq. (6).
3282 L. Zhang et al. / Nonlinear Analysis 67 (2007) 32763282
4. Conclusions
In summary, we have presented several compactons, peakons, solitary and periodic cusp wave solutions of the
generalized B(m, n) equation by using the integral approach. When the absolute values of a and b are 1, some of our
results are identical to those in [6,11,1315]. In addition, to the best of our knowledge we are the rst to present the
exact expressions for the peakons and the periodic cusp wave solutions and some new types of compacton solution of
the generalized B(m, n) equation when m = n = 2. It is worth pointing out that this approach can also be used to
address some other equations.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No Y604359). Zhang L. would
like to express sincere gratitude to Prof. Jibin Li for his kindly encouragement.
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