A Weakly Nonlinear Model for Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in Incompressible Fluids

A weakly nonlinear model is proposed for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in two-dimensional incompressible fluids by expanding the perturbation velocity potential to third order. The third-order harmonic generation effects of single-mode perturbation are analyzed, as well as the nonlinear correction to the exponential growth of the fundamental modulation. The weakly nonlinear results are supported by numerical simulations. Density and resonance effects exist in the development of mode coupling.