Constitutive model for third harmonic generation in elastic solids

• A constitutive model for third harmonic generation in elastic solids is presented.
• Important features of the material response depicted by the proposed model are discussed.
• Numerical simulations for third harmonic generation in waveguides and also unbounded media in 2D are carried out.

In this article, we present a new constitutive model for studying ultrasonic third harmonic generation in elastic solids. The model is hyperelastic in nature with two parameters characterizing the linear elastic material response and two other parameters characterizing the nonlinear response. The limiting response of the model as the nonlinearity parameters tend to zero is shown to be the well-known St Venant–Kirchhoff model. Also, the symmetric response of the model in tension and compression and its role in third harmonic generation is shown. Numerical simulations are carried out to study third harmonic generation in materials characterized by the proposed constitutive model. Predicted third harmonic guided wave generation reveals an increasing third harmonic content with increasing nonlinearity. On the other hand, the second harmonics are independent of the nonlinearity parameters and are generated due to the geometric nonlinearity. The feasibility of determining the nonlinearity parameters from third harmonic measurements is qualitatively discussed.