Distortion of the wave profiles in an elastoplastic body upon spalling (Q2760760)

The distortion of wave profiles in measuring the spall strength of elastoplastic materials is analyzed. An expression for the velocity of an elastic compression wave that overtakes a plastic rarefaction wave is obtained. It is shown that, depending on the ratio between the stress gradients in the plastic rarefaction wave and the overtaking compression wave, the front velocity of the compressive wave varies in the limits between the velocities of the longitudinal perturbations and the perturbations of volume expansion or compression.