title: Propagation of rarefaction pulses in discrete materials with strain-softening behavior.
abstract: We report on the dynamic behavior of strongly nonlinear discrete materials with anomalous strain-softening behavior. Rarefaction solitary waves found in numerical calculations agree well with the exact solution to the continuum wave equation. Compression pulses generated by impact quickly disintegrate into a leading rarefaction solitary wave followed by an oscillatory wave train containing localized excitations. Such behavior is favorable for metamaterials design of shock absorption layers as well as tunable information transmission lines for scrambling of acoustic information.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-286, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Herbold
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0411, USA and Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0418, USA.
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Nesterenko