One-dimensional Wave Propagation

When a uniform, homogeneous bar is loaded axially we can model the stress distribution throughout the beam by looking at a very small slice of the given bar (Figure 1). The stress increase along a length of the bar, dx, can be given by /x

Figure 1 Normal Stresses Acting on a Differential Element of a Bar Based on Newtons second law, we can write the equilibrium equation of the differential slice as follows: - + + x = t . (1) Where u is the displacement in the x direction, t is time, and r is the mass density of the bar. Canceling terms we arrive at:
u

.. (2)

By assuming a linear relationship between stress and strain, an adequate assumption when analyzing wave propagation, we can use Youngs Modulus to help simplify the equation. Recall that: =

.. (3)

where E is the Youngs Modulus. Strain () can be written as, = (4) Substituting this into Equation 3 we obtain,

 = .. (5) Differentiating this equation with respect to x, we obtain:

= (6)

Substituting this equation into equation 2 yields,

= .. (7)

or

= .. (8)

where =

.. (9)

Let = is the velocity of the longitudinal stress wave propagation. Equation 8 is the one dimensional wave equation. The conditions that the left and right hand ends are held at height zero are encoded in the boundary conditions 0, = 0 > 0 . (10) , = 0 > 0 . (11) As we have been told the position and speed of the string at time 0, there are given functions f(x) and g(x) such that the initial conditions , 0 = )0 < < . (12) , 0 = 0 < < . . (13) Are satisfied.

Solution One-dimensional Wave Propagation by Separation of Variables

Equation (9) is the second order partial differential equation and can be solved using the method of separation of variables, wherein the solution to the partial differential equation can be written as =

This equation will be the solution to the wave equation if and only if 2 = 2 () 1 = 2 ()

The left hand side is independent of t. So the right hand which is equal to the left hand side, must be independent of t too. The right hand side is independent of x. So the left hand side must be independent of x too. So both sides must be independent of both x and t. So both sides must be constant. Lets call the constant . So we have equation (14) which is written below = = 0 1 = 2 2 = 0

We now have two constant coefficient ordinary differential equations, which we solve in the usual way. We try = and = for some constants r and s to be determined. These are solutions if and only if 2 = 0 2 2 = 0 2 = 0 = 2 2 = 0 2 2 2 = 0 2 2 = 0 = 2

If 6 = 0, we now have two independent solutions, namely independent solutions namely

, for X(x) and two

, for T (t). If = 0, the general solution to 10

= 1 + 2 = 3 + 4 for arbitrary constants1 , 2 , 3 4 . If =0, the equation 10 simplify to = 0 And the general solution is = 0

= 1 + 2 = 3 + 4 for arbitrary constants1 , 2 , 3 4 . We have now found a huge number of solutions to the wave equation (9). Namely , = (1 + 2 1 , 2 , 3 4

)3

+ 4

for arbitrary 0 and arbitrary

, = 1 + 2 (3 + 4 ) for arbitrary 1 , 2 , 3 4 . If , = 1,2,3 .all solve the wave equation, then is also a solution for any choice of constants . This solution satisfies the boundary condition (10) if and only if

0 = 0 > 0

This will certainly be the case if Xi(0) = 0 for all i. In fact, if the ais are nonzero and the Ti(t)s are independent, then (10) is satisfied if and only if all of the Xis(0)s are zero. For us, it will be good enough to simply restrict our attention to Xis for which Xi(0) = 0, so I am not even going to define what independent means. Similarly , = satisfies the boundary condition (11) if and only if = 0 > 0

And this will certainly be the case if () = 0 . We are now going to go through the solution that we find previously and discard all of those that fail to satisfy 0 = = 0. First consider =0 so that = 1 + 2 . The condition (0) = 0 is satisfied if and only if d1=0. () = 0 is satisfied if and only if 1 + 2=0. So the condition 0 = ()are both satisfied only if 1 = 2 = 0in which case is identically zero. There is nothing to be gained be keeping an identical zero so we discard =0 completely. Next consider 0 so that 1 + 2 . The condition (0) = 0 is satisfied if and only if 1 + 2 = 0. So we require 2 = 1 . The condition ( ) = 0 is satisfied if and only if 0 = 1

+ 2

= 1 (

If d1 were zero, then X(x) would again be identically zero and hence useless. So instead, we discard any that does not obey

= 0

=1

If the last step, we multiplied both sides of = . One that obeys 2 = 1is =0. But we are now considering only 0. Fortunately, there are infinitely many complex numbers that work. In fact 2

= 1if and only if there is an integer k such that

2 = 2 = = with = 2 = 1 , = 1 = 21 sin(

(3

+ 4

)[(3 + 4 ) cos + (3 4 ) sin

= sin(

)[ cos + sin

Where = 21 [(3 + 4 )and = 21 [(3 4 ). Note that to this point 1 , 2 , 3 4 are allowed to be any complex no so that and are allowed to be any complex no. We know that

, =
=1

sin(

)[ cos + sin

obeys the wave equation (10) and the boundary conditions (11) and (12), for any choice of the constants and It remains only to see if we can choose and to satisfy

= , 0 =
=1

sin(

) . . (13 )

= , 0 =
=1

sin( ) (14)

But any (reasonably smooth) function , defined on the interval 0 < < , has a unique representation

=
=1

sin(

) . . (15)

as a linear combination of sin(

)s and we also know the formula 2 =

sin(
0

for the coefficients. We can make (15) match (13') by choosing = and = . This tells us that = a solution
2 0

sin(

) . Similarly, we can match (15) match (14') by choosing

= and =

. This tells us that

sin(

) . So that we have

, =
=1

sin(

)[ cos + sin

With = 2

sin(
0

sin(
0