Deformation trapping due to thermoplastic instability in one-dimensional wave propagation

One-dimensional shear wave propagation in a half-space of a nonlinear material is considered. The surface of the half-space is subjected to a time dependent but spatially uniform tangential velocity. The half-space material exhibits strain hardening, thermal softening and strain rate sensitivity of the flow stress. For this system, a well-defined band of intense shear deformation can develop adjacent to the loaded surface, even though the material has no imperfections or other natural length scale. Representative particle velocity and strain profiles, which have been obtained numerically, are described for several different models.