Travelling and standing envelope solitons in discrete non-linear cyclic structures

Envelope solitons are demonstrated to exist in non-linear discrete structures with cyclic symmetry. The analysis is based on the Non-Linear Schrodinger Equation for the weakly non-linear limit, and on numerical simulation of the fully non-linear equations for larger amplitudes. Envelope solitons exist for parameters in which the wave equation is focussing and they have the form of shape-conserving wave packages propagating roughly with group velocity. For the limit of maximum wave number, where the group velocity vanishes, standing wave packages result and can be linked via a bifurcation to the non-localised non-linear normal modes. Numerical applications are carried out on a simple discrete system with cyclic symmetry which can be seen as a reduced model of a bladed disk as found in turbo-machinery.