This study analyzes a thermophoretic motion system with a variable heat transmission which models the nonlinear wrinkle motions in substrate-supported graphene sheets. Through symbolic computation, the analytic N-soliton solutions are obtained for the system. The N-soliton solutions can be used to describe the multiple wrinkles in graphene sheets. Furthermore, wrinkle propagation and interaction
... [Show full abstract] are discussed. Snake-, V- and Z-like wrinkles are observed graphically by choosing the heat transmission function as three specific functions. A collision between wrinkles is elastic. Before and after the collision, wrinkle energy and propagation direction remain unchanged. But at collision points, the energy carried by the larger wrinkles will be subtracted. The research contributes to a deeper understanding to the structures, characteristics and propagation behavior of the wrinkles in the grapheme sheets, and has potential applications in graphene materials.