Some Aspects of One-Dimensional Finite Amplitude Elastic Wave Propagation

This chapter is concerned with certain aspects of the propagation of one dimensional waves in solids. The governing equations for the problems considered are partial differential equations in two independent variables, a spatial variable, denoted by x, and a temporal variable t. We concentrate on techniques pertinent to wave propagation and refer the reader to texts such as [1], [2] and [3] for other aspects of the theory of partial differential equations. Additional information relevant to wave propagation may also be found in the books by Whitham [4] and Smoller [5].