The nonlinear evolution of near-neutral and near-body wave modes in a pre-stressed incompressible elastic half-space. I: Upper branch near-neutral modes. II: Lower branch near neutral modes (Q1388346)

This series of papers is concerned with the three asymptotic limits of \textit{Y. Fu} and \textit{B. Devenish} [Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 49, No. 1, 65-80 (1996; Zbl 0857.73020)]. When an incompressible elastic half-space is subjected to an allround pressure, the Rayleigh waves become standing waves when \( \overline{p}= \pm 2\) and degenerate into body waves when \(\overline{p}=-1\), where \(\overline{p}\) is the pressure scaled by the shear modulus. Part I of this series is concerned with the limit \(\overline{p}\to 2\). The time scale over which surface waves in a neighbourhood of this limit evolve is \(O(\varepsilon ^{1/2})\) and is valid for \(\overline{p}\) over the range \(\overline{p}-2= O(\varepsilon)\), where \(\varepsilon\) is a small parameter characterizing the wave amplitude. Part II examines the evolution of the lower branch near-neutral modes. It is shown that as \(\overline{p}= -2\) is approached from above, two regions of \(\overline{p}\) values need to be considered separately: an intermediate region where \(\overline{p}=-2+ O(\varepsilon)\) and over which the near-neutral modes evolve on an \(O(\varepsilon^{-3/2})\) time scale, and a final region where \(\overline{p}= -2+ O(\varepsilon^2)\) and over which the near-neutral modes evolve on a shorter \(O(\varepsilon^{-1})\) time scale.