Wave Propagation in a Viscoelastic Material With Temperature-Dependent Properties and Thermomechanical Coupling

Abstract

A numerical method is developed for the analysis of one-dimensional wave propagation in viscoelastic media with temperature-dependent properties when thermomechanical coupling is significant. The method is applied to a specific case of longitudinal wave propagation in a finite rod with essentially sinusoidal stress variation at the two ends. The results show that, contrary to the usual assumption, such a system does not have the same response as a single-degree-of-freedom elastic system with viscous damping, as long as a realistic stress-strain relation is used.