Scattering as a mechanism for structured shock waves in metals

The scattering of wave energy during shock propagation through heterogenous media is examined as an alternative to visco-plasticity as the physics underlying the formation of structured steady shock waves in polycrystalline metals. A theory based on a quasi-harmonic representation of scattered acoustic energy in solids is pursued and used to develop continuum constitutive relations to describe nonlinear wave propagation in heterogeneous solids. Resulting constitutive models are compared with shock wave profile data for metals.