Primary pulse transmission in a strongly nonlinear periodic system

The aim of this work is to study the transmission of stress waves in an impulsively forced semi-infinite repetitive system of linear layers which are coupled by means of strongly nonlinear coupling elements. Only primary pulse transmission and reflection at each nonlinear element is considered. This permits the reduction of the problem to an infinite set of first-order strongly nonlinear ordinary differential equations. A subset of these equations is solved both analytically and numerically. For a system possessing clearance nonlinearities it is found that the primary transmitted pulse propagates to only a finite number of layers, and that further transmission of energy to additional layers can occur only through time-delayed secondary pulses or does not occur at all. Hence, clearance nonlinearities in a periodic layered system can lead to energy entrapment in the leading layers. An alternative continuum approximation methodology is also outlined which reduces the problem of primary pulse transmission to the solution of a single strongly nonlinear partial differential equation. The use of the continuum approximation for studying maximum primary pulse penetration in the system with clearance nonlinearities is discussed.