Compact acoustic travelling waves in a class of fluids with nonlinear material dispersion

We apply a phenomenological theory of continua put forth by Rubin, Rosenau and Gottlieb in 1995 to an important class of compressible media. Regarding the material characteristic length coefficient,α , not as constant, but instead as a quadratic function of the velocity gradient, we carry out an in-depth analysis of one-dimensional acoustic travelling waves in inviscid, non-thermally conducting fluids. Analytical and numerical methods are employed to study the resulting waveforms, a special case of which exhibits compact support. In particular, a phase plane analysis is performed; simplified approximate/asymptotic expressions are presented; and a weakly nonlinear, KdV-like model that admits compact travelling wave solutions (TWSs), but which is not of the classK (m ,n ), is derived and analysed. Most significantly, our formulation allows for compact, pulse-type, acoustic waveforms in both gases and liquids.