The propagation of initially plane waves in nonhomogeneous viscoelastic media

In this study, the propagation of an initially plane wave in a linear isotropic nonhomogeneous viscoelastic medium, where the nonhomogeneity varies transversely to the direction of propagation, is investigated. For this purpose, first the propagation of waves in a linear isotropic viscoelastic medium of arbitrary inhomogeneity is studied by employing the notion of singular surfaces. The characteristic equation governing wave velocities, and the growth and decay equations describing the change of the strength of the discontinuity as the wave front moves are obtained.In the second part of this work, the propagation of initially plane waves is studied for three types of inhomogeneities by employing the findings established in the first part. The first kind of inhomogeneity considered is of axisymmetrical type where the wave propagation velocity depends on the radial coordinate only, increasing linearly up to a certain radial distance and remaining constant thereafter. The second kind is also axisymmetrical with a wave velocity distribution decreasing linearly till a given value of the radial coordinate. In the third one, the wave velocity is assumed to vary linearly over a given interval along a certain coordinate axis only, which is perpendicular to the direction of propagation, and remain constant outside. The ray and wave front analyses are carried out and the decay or growth of stress and velocity discontinuities are studied for each of the three cases.