Inhomogeneous waves in anisotropic dissipative bodies

Wave propagation in anisotropic dissipative bodies is considered through the form of inhomogeneous waves. The dissipativity of the body is characterized by a restriction of thermodynamic character on the viscoelastic tensor. As a consequence, the divergence of the usual (time-averaged) energy flux is proved to be negative. This in turn is shown to imply that the amplitude of the wave decays in the direction of the energy flux and the angle, subtended by the imaginary part of the wave vector and the energy flux, is acute. Moreover, the symmetry of the viscoelastic tensor and the positive definiteness of its real part imply that also the imaginary part of the wave vector subtends an acute angle with the energy flux. Such properties are shown to hold in both solids and fluids. Because of anisotropy, the angle subtended by the real and imaginary parts of the wave vector need not be acute, which means that the amplitude may increase in the direction of phase propagation.