Extended characteristics method in nonlinear geometric acoustics

An asymptotic “extended characteristics method” is developed for solving nonlinear Riemann-type wave equations as applied to calculating the ray pattern of intense spatially modulated waves in weakly inhomogeneous media. The method makes it possible to avoid the singularity related to the foci of the initial wavefront, calculate the displacement in foci caused by the inhomogeneity of the medium, and thus calculate the ray pattern and intensity of the acoustic field. The beauty of the method is an exact nonlinear transfer equation for the field along the ray and the construction of its general solution for an arbitrary form of inhomogeneity. It is shown that the method is applicable to calculating the spatial structure of intense focused waves and wave beams outside the focal region in a nonlinear geometric acoustics approximation.