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Waves in Continuous Media: Classical Theory

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Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics

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Synonyms

Continuous media; Deformation waves; Wave equations; Wave types; Wave velocities

Definitions

A wave is a disturbance which propagates from one point in a medium to other points with a finite speed without giving the medium as a whole any permanent displacement.

Waves in solid continua form a chapter in general wave physics which includes optics, electromagnetism, fluid dynamics, oceanography, etc. This indicates a wide field of phenomena and applications of waves like wave scattering, wave diffraction, spectroscopy, and holography, just to name a few areas. In solids, waves are of importance in design of structures (machine engineering, civil engineering), in nondestructive testing (of properties and qualities of materials), in seismology (earthquake analysis, mapping of earth’s interior), etc.

Modeling of Waves

In general, waves correspond to continuous variations of the states of the material points that constitute the medium. During the wave propagation the resistance to...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cybernetics, School of Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Jüri Engelbrecht

Authors
  1. Jüri Engelbrecht
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jüri Engelbrecht .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Mechanik, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Institut für Mechanik, Magdeburg, Germany

    Holm Altenbach

  2. Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus), Griffith School of Engineering Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus), Southport, Queensland, Australia

    Andreas Öchsner

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Cybernetics, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 21, EE-12618, Tallinn, Estonia

    Jüri Engelbrecht

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Engelbrecht, J. (2018). Waves in Continuous Media: Classical Theory. In: Altenbach, H., Öchsner, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_230-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_230-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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