Uniqueness of the displacement-heat flux problem in thermoelasticity with two relaxation times (Q1066701)

The classical theory of coupled thermoelasticity is described by equations that imply an infinite speed of thermoelastic disturbances in a body. In this paper the author considers two new thermoelastic theories which eliminate the infinite speed paradox: the theory derived by \textit{A. E. Green} and \textit{K. A. Lindsay} [(*) J. Elasticity 2, 1-7 (1972)] and the theory proposed by \textit{H. W. Lord} and \textit{Y. Shulman} [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 15, 299-309 (1967)]. First, an initial-boundary value problem in the theory derived by Green and Lindsay (*) is formulated in terms of displacement field and heat flux field. A uniqueness theorem is established. Then, the author shows that some of the field equations of one theory reduce to those of the other if the relaxation times satisfy some restrictions.