A model for describing near-resonance oscillations in an elastic layer

One-dimensional transverse oscillations in a layer of a non-linear elastic medium are considered, when one of the boundaries is subjected to external actions, causing periodic changes in both tangential components of the velocity. In a mode close to resonance, the non-linear properties of the medium may lead to a slow change in the form of the oscillations as the number of the reflections from the layer boundaries increases. Differential equations describing this process were previously derived. The equations obtained are hyperbolic and the change in the solution may both keep the functions continuous and lead to the formation of jumps. In this paper a model of the evolution of the wave patterns is constructed as integral equations having the form of conservation laws, which determine the change in the functions describing the oscillations of the layer as “slow” time increases. The system of hyperbolic differential equations previously obtained follows from these conservation laws for continuous motions, in which one of the variables is slow time, for which one period of the actual time serves as an infinitesimal quantity, while the second variable is the real time. For the discontinuous solutions of the same integral equations, conditions on the discontinuity are obtained. An analogy is established between the solutions of the equations obtained and non-linear waves propagating in an unbounded uniform elastic medium with a certain chosen elastic potential. This analogy enable discontinuities which may be physically realised to be distinguished. The problem of steady oscillations of an elastic layer is discussed.