Purpose

Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov system (NNVS) is a well-known isotropic extension of the Lax (1 + 1) dimensional Korteweg-deVries equation that is also used as a paradigm for an incompressible fluid. The purpose of this paper is to present a fractal model of the NNVS based on the Hausdorff fractal derivative fundamental concept.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-scale transformation is used to convert the proposed fractal model into regular NNVS. The variational strategy of well-known Chinese scientist Prof. Ji Huan He is used to generate bright and exponential soliton solutions for the proposed fractal system.

Findings

The NNV fractal model and its variational principle are introduced in this paper. Solitons are created with a variety of restriction interactions that must all be applied equally. Finally, the three-dimensional diagrams are displayed using an appropriate range of physical parameters. The results of the solitary solutions demonstrated that the suggested method is very accurate and effective. The proposed methodology is extremely useful and nearly preferable for use in such problems.

Practical implications

The research study of the soliton theory has already played a pioneering role in modern nonlinear science. It is widely used in many natural sciences, including communication, biology, chemistry and mathematics, as well as almost all branches of physics, including nonlinear optics, plasma physics, fluid dynamics, condensed matter physics and field theory, among others. As a result, while constructing possible soliton solutions to a nonlinear NNV model arising from the field of an incompressible fluid is a popular topic, solving nonlinear fluid mechanics problems is significantly more difficult than solving linear ones.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time in the literature, this study presents Prof. Ji Huan He's variational algorithm for finding and studying solitary solutions of the fractal NNV model. The reported solutions are novel and present a valuable addition to the literature in soliton theory.