Propagation and interaction of non-linear elastic plane waves in soft solids

Using the perturbation method of weakly non-linear asymptotics we analyze the propagation and interaction of elastic plane waves in a model of a soft solid proposed by Hamilton et al. [Separation of compressibility and shear deformation in the elastic energy density, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (2004) 41–44]. We derive the evolution equations for the wave amplitudes and find analytical formulas for all interaction coefficients of quadratically non-linear interacting waves. We show that in spite of the assumption of almost incompressibility used in Hamilton et al. [Separation of compressibility and shear deformation in the elastic energy density, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116 (2004) 41–44], the model behaves essentially like that of a compressible isotropic material. Both the structure of the equations and the interaction patterns are similar. The models differ, however, in the elastic constants that characterize them, and hence the values of the coefficients in the evolution equations and the values of the interaction coefficients differ.