Abstract: | A generalization of Whitham's asymptotic method is proposed for solving systems of integro-differential equations describing the dynamic behavior of bodies composed of nonlinear viscoelastic materials. The possibility of using this approach to solve coupled problems of thermoviscoelasticity is indicated. A number of examples are considered including the propagation of a harmonic disturbance in a rod of nonlinear viscoelastic material under isothermal conditions and the coupled problem of the high-frequency vibration of a rod of linear viscoelastic material, whose properties depend on temperature in accordance with the time-temperature superposition principle.Institute of Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 58–65, January–February, 1973. |