Abstract The initialand boundary-value problem for the Kawahara equation, a fifthorder KdV type equation, is studied in weighted Sobolev spaces. This functional framework is based on the dual-Petrov–Galerkin algorithm, a numerical method proposed by Shen (2003 SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 41 1595–619) to solve third and higher odd-order partial differential equations. The theory presented here includes...

In this article, we apply the Multiquadric radial basis function (RBF) interpo-lation method for nding the numerical approximation of traveling wave solu-tions of the Kawahara equation. The scheme is based on the Crank-Nicolsonformulation for space derivative. The performance of the method is shown innumerical examples.

The linear stability problem for solitary wave states of the Kawahara—or fifthorder KdV-type—equation and its generalizations is considered. A new formulation of the stability problem in terms of the symplectic Evans matrix is presented. The formulation is based on a multisymplectification of the Kawahara equation, and leads to a new characterization of the basic solitary wave, including change...