Nonlinear modulation of SH waves in an incompressible hyperelastic plate (Q885795)

The authors study nonlinear SH waves in an incompressible homogeneous isotropic plate in which strain energy function is assumed to be the first invariant of deformation tensor. The perturbation method yields linear problems at each approximation stage with the zeroth-order approximation being the linear wave equation in the plate. The higher-order problems lead to a nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation satisfied by the amplitude function. The behavior of travelling wave solution of NLS equation shows that the nonlinear plane periodic waves are unstable under infinitesimal perturbations when the material of the plate is softening. In the case of hardening plate material, the periodic nonlinear waves are found to be stable.