Numerical continuation methods for studying periodic travelling wave (wavetrain) solutions of partial differential equations

Periodic travelling waves (wavetrains) are an important solution type for many partial differential equations. In this paper I review the use of numerical continuation for studying these solutions. I discuss the calculation of the form and stability of a given periodic travelling wave, and the calculation of boundaries in a two-dimensional parameter plane for wave existence and stability. I also describe the automated implementation of these numerical continuation procedures via the software package WAVETRAIN (http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/wavetrain). I conclude by discussing ongoing work on numerical continuation methods for determining the absolute stability of periodic travelling waves. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.