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A numerical simulation of the regularized long wave (RLW) equation is obtained using a high-order compact difference method, based on the fourth-order compact difference scheme in space and the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method in time integration. The method is tested on the problems of propagation of a solitary wave, interaction of two positive solitary waves, interaction of a positive and a negative solitary wave, the evaluation of Maxwellian pulse into stable solitary waves, the development of an undular bore and the solitary waves induced by boundary motion. The three invariants of the motion are calculated to determine the conservation properties of the algorithm. L2 and L∞ error norms are used to measure differences between the exact and numerical solutions. The results obtained by proposed method are compared with those of other recently published methods and shown to be more accurate and efficient.

The equal width equation is solved by a Petrov–Galerkin method using quadratic B-spline spatial finite elements. A linear recurrence relationship for the numerical solution of the resulting system of ordinary differential equations is obtained via a Crank–Nicolson approach involving a product approximation. The motion of solitary waves is studied to assess the properties of the algorithm. The development of an EW undular bore is investigated and compared with that of the RLW bore. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The RLW equation is solved by a least-squares technique using linear space-time finite elements. In simulations of the migration of a single solitary wave this algorithm is shown to have higher accuracy and better conservation than a recent difference scheme based on cubic spline interpolation functions. In addition, for very small amplitude waves (≤ 0.09) it has higher accuracy than an approach using quadratic B-spline finite elements within Galerkin's method. The development of an undular bore is modelled.

A B-spline finite element method is used to solve the regularized long wave equation numerically. This approach involves a Galerkin method with quadratic B-spline finite elements so that there is continuity of the dependent variable and its first derivative throughout the solution range. Time integration of the resulting system of ordinary differential equations is effected using a Crank-Nicolson approximation. Standard problems are used to validate the algorithm, which is then used to model the smooth development of an undular bore.