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Exact Representations for Acoustical Waves When the Sound Speed Varies in Space and Time
Author(s) -
Seymour Brian,
Varley Eric
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
studies in applied mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1467-9590
pISSN - 0022-2526
DOI - 10.1002/sapm19877611
Subject(s) - speed of sound , wave equation , acoustics , space (punctuation) , sound wave , mathematical analysis , mathematics , wave speed , sound (geography) , acoustic wave equation , physics , space time , acoustic wave , computer science , engineering , chemical engineering , operating system
This paper describes the propagation of acoustical disturbances in materials where the sound speed c(x,t) varies in space and time. It is shown that there are forms of c(x,t) for which the general solution to the one dimensional wave equation can be found in closed form. The c(x,t) are characterized by the condition that the expansion schemes used in the theory of geometrical acoustics should terminate after a finite number of terms to yield exact solutions to the wave equation.