Waves occur widely in nature and have innumerable commercial uses. Pressure waves are responsible for the transmission of speech, bow waves created by meteors can virtually ignite the earth's atmosphere, ultrasonic waves are used for medical imaging, and shock waves are used for the synthesis of new materials. This book provides a thorough, modern introduction to the study of linear and nonlinear waves. Beginning with fundamental concepts of motion, the book goes on to discuss linear and nonlinear mechanical waves, thermodynamics, and constitutive models. It covers gases, liquids, and solids as integral parts of the subject. Among the important areas of research and application are impact analysis, shock wave research, explosive detonation, nonlinear acoustics, and hypersonic aerodynamics. Graduate students, as well as professional engineers and applied physicists, will value this clear, comprehensive introduction to the study of wave phenomena.

The purpose of this volume is to present a clear and systematic account of the mathematical methods of wave phenomena in solids, gases, and water that will be readily accessible to physicists and engineers. The emphasis is on developing the necessary mathematical techniques, and on showing how these mathematical concepts can be effective in unifying the physics of wave propagation in a variety of physical settings: sound and shock waves in gases, water waves, and stress waves in solids. Nonlinear effects and asymptotic phenomena will be discussed. Wave propagation in continuous media (solid, liquid, or gas) has as its foundation the three basic conservation laws of physics: conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, which will be described in various sections of the book in their proper physical setting. These conservation laws are expressed either in the Lagrangian or the Eulerian representation depending on whether the boundaries are relatively fixed or moving. In any case, these laws of physics allow us to derive the "field equations" which are expressed as systems of partial differential equations. For wave propagation phenomena these equations are said to be "hyperbolic" and, in general, nonlinear in the sense of being "quasi linear" . We therefore attempt to determine the properties of a system of "quasi linear hyperbolic" partial differential equations which will allow us to calculate the displacement, velocity fields, etc.

Travelling wave processes and wave motion are of great importance in many areas of mechanics, and nonlinearity also plays a decisive role there. The basic mathematical models in this area involve nonlinear partial differential equations, and predictability of behaviour of wave phenomena is of great importance. Beside fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, which have long been the traditional nonlinear scienes, solid mechanics is now taking an ever increasing account of nonlinear effects. Apart from plasticity and fracture mechanics, nonlinear elastic waves have been shown to be of great importance in many areas, such as the study of impact, nondestructive testing and seismology. These lectures offer a thorough account of the fundamental theory of nonlinear deformation waves, and in the process offer an up to date account of the current state of research in the theory and practice of nonlinear waves in solids.

The content of the volume is constituted by four articles. The first concerns the theory of propagation of plane waves in elastic media. The second treats theoretically the linear, weakly non-linear, and non-linear stability of flows of a viscous incompressible fluid in a diverging channel. The third lecture investigates the mathematical properties of the equations governing the motion of a viscous incompressible second-grade fluid, such as existence, uniqueness of classical solutions and stability of steady-state flows. The last lecture provides some basic results on wave propagation in continuum models. The objective of this book is to emphasize and to compare the various aspects of interest which include the necessary mathematical background, constitutive theories for material of differential type, polarized and shock waves, and second sound in solids at low temperatures.

Waves are essential phenomena in most scientific and engineering disciplines, such as electromagnetism and optics, and different mechanics including fluid, solid, structural, quantum, etc. They appear in linear and nonlinear systems. Some can be observed directly and others are not. The features of the waves are usually described by solutions to either linear or nonlinear partial differential equations, which are fundamental to the students and researchers.Generic equations, describing wave and pulse propagation in linear and nonlinear systems, are introduced and analyzed as initial/boundary value problems. These systems cover the general properties of non-dispersive and dispersive, uniform and non-uniform, with/without dissipations. Methods of analyses are introduced and illustrated with analytical solutions. Wave-wave and wave-particle interactions ascribed to the nonlinearity of media (such as plasma) are discussed in the final chapter.This interdisciplinary textbook is essential reading for anyone in above mentioned disciplines. It was prepared to provide students with an understanding of waves and methods of solving wave propagation problems. The presentation is self-contained and should be read without difficulty by those who have adequate preparation in classic mechanics. The selection of topics and the focus given to each provide essential materials for a lecturer to cover the bases in a linear/nonlinear wave course.

This is the second work of a set of two volumes on the phenomena of wave propagation in nonreacting and reacting media. The first, entitled Wave Propagation in Solids and Fluids (published by Springer-Verlag in 1988), deals with wave phenomena in nonreacting media (solids and fluids). This book is concerned with wave propagation in reacting media-specifically, in electro magnetic materials. Since these volumes were designed to be relatively self contained, we have taken the liberty of adapting some of the pertinent material, especially in the theory of hyperbolic partial differential equations (concerned with electromagnetic wave propagation), variational methods, and Hamilton-Jacobi theory, to the phenomena of electromagnetic waves. The purpose of this volume is similar to that of the first, except that here we are dealing with electromagnetic waves. We attempt to present a clear and systematic account of the mathematical methods of wave phenomena in electromagnetic materials that will be readily accessible to physicists and engineers. The emphasis is on developing the necessary mathematical tech niques, and on showing how these methods of mathematical physics can be effective in unifying the physics of wave propagation in electromagnetic media. Chapter 1 presents the theory of time-varying electromagnetic fields, which involves a discussion of Faraday's laws, Maxwell's equations, and their appli cations to electromagnetic wave propagation under a variety of conditions.

Earthquakes, a plucked string, ocean waves crashing on the beach, the sound waves that allow us to recognize known voices. Waves are everywhere, and the propagation and classical properties of these apparently disparate phenomena can be described by the same mathematical methods: variational calculus, characteristics theory, and caustics. Taking a medium-by-medium approach, Julian Davis explains the mathematics needed to understand wave propagation in inviscid and viscous fluids, elastic solids, viscoelastic solids, and thermoelastic media, including hyperbolic partial differential equations and characteristics theory, which makes possible geometric solutions to nonlinear wave problems. The result is a clear and unified treatment of wave propagation that makes a diverse body of mathematics accessible to engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians engaged in research on elasticity, aerodynamics, and fluid mechanics. This book will particularly appeal to those working across specializations and those who seek the truly interdisciplinary understanding necessary to fully grasp waves and their behavior. By proceeding from concrete phenomena (e.g., the Doppler effect, the motion of sinusoidal waves, energy dissipation in viscous fluids, thermal stress) rather than abstract mathematical principles, Davis also creates a one-stop reference that will be prized by students of continuum mechanics and by mathematicians needing information on the physics of waves.