A note on nonlinear elastic wave propagation (Q761829)

We present an extremely concise form of the iterated compatibility relations which are readily useful for finding the basic equations for higher order waves. Moreover, their formulation involves an arbitrary choice of coordinates on the singular surface in space-time. In the next section we apply these relations to the equations of motion of a nonlinear elastic solid and obtain the basic equations which govern deformation waves of all orders, \(n\geq 2.\) In the final section we give an algorithm for solving problems in nonlinear elastodynamics which utilizes the wave front expansion mentioned earlier. In particular, the procedure involves transforming to coordinates obtained after solving for the characteristics of the growth- decay equations, which then may be employed to render these into ordinary differential equations.