We study the scattering of a long longitudinal radiating bulk strain solitary wave in the delaminated area of a two-layered elastic structure with soft ("imperfect") bonding between the layers within the scope of the coupled Boussinesq equations. The direct numerical modelling of this and similar problems is challenging and has natural limitations. We develop a semi-analytical approach, based on the use of several matched asymptotic multiple-scale expansions and averaging with respect to the fast space variable, leading to the coupled Ostrovsky equations in bonded regions and uncoupled Korteweg-de Vries equations in the delaminated region. We show that the semi-analytical approach agrees well with direct numerical simulations and use it to study the nonlinear dynamics and scattering of the radiating solitary wave in a wide range of bi-layers with delamination. The results indicate that radiating solitary waves could help us to control the integrity of layered structures with imperfect interfaces.

Integrity of layered structures, extensively used in modern industry, strongly depends on the quality of their interfaces; poor adhesion or delamination can lead to a failure of the structure. Can nonlinear waves help us to control the quality of layered structures? In this paper, we numerically model the dynamics of a long longitudinal strain solitary wave in a split, symmetric layered bar. The recently developed analytical approach, based on matching two asymptotic multiple-scales expansions and the integrability theory of the Korteweg–de Vries equation by the inverse scattering transform, is used to develop an effective semi-analytical numerical approach for these types of problems. We also employ a direct finite-difference method and compare the numerical results with each other, and with the analytical predictions. The numerical modelling confirms that delamination causes fission of an incident solitary wave and, thus, can be used to detect the defect.

We study solitary wave solutions of the fifth-order Korteweg-de Vries equation which contains, besides the traditional quadratic nonlinearity and third-order dispersion, additional terms including cubic nonlinearity and fifth-order linear dispersion, as well as two nonlinear dispersive terms. An exact solitary wave solution to this equation is derived and the dependence of its amplitude, width and speed on the parameters of the governing equation are studied. It is shown that the derived solution can represent either an embedded or regular soliton depending on the equation parameters.The nonlinear dispersive terms can drastically influence the existence of solitary waves, their nature (regular or embedded), profile, polarity, and stability with respect to small perturbations. We show, in particular, that in some cases embedded solitons can be stable even with respect to interactions with regular solitons. The results obtained are applicable to surface and internal waves in fluids, as well as to waves in other media (plasma, solid waveguides, elastic media with microstructure, etc.).

In this paper, we construct a weakly‐nonlinear d'Alembert‐type solution of the Cauchy problem for the Boussinesq‐Klein‐Gordon (BKG) equation. Similarly to our earlier work based on the use of spatial Fourier series, we consider the problem in the class of periodic functions on an interval of finite length (including the case of localized solutions on a large interval), and work with the nonlinear partial differential equation with variable coefficients describing the deviation from the oscillating mean value. Unlike our earlier paper, here we develop a novel multiple‐scales procedure involving fast characteristic variables and two slow time scales and averaging with respect to the spatial variable at a constant value of one or another characteristic variable, which allows us to construct an explicit and compact d'Alembert‐type solution of the nonlinear problem in terms of solutions of two Ostrovsky equations emerging at the leading order and describing the right‐ and left‐propagating waves. Validity of the constructed solution in the case when only the first initial condition for the BKG equation may have nonzero mean value follows from our earlier results, and is illustrated numerically for a number of instructive examples, both for periodic solutions on a finite interval, and localized solutions on a large interval. We also outline an extension of the procedure to the general case, when both initial conditions may have nonzero mean values. Importantly, in all cases, the initial conditions for the leading‐order Ostrovsky equations by construction have zero mean, while initial conditions for the BKG equation may have nonzero mean values.

Weakly-nonlinear waves in a layered waveguide with an imperfect interface (soft bonding between the layers) can be modelled using coupled Boussinesq equations. We assume that the materials of the layers have close mechanical properties, in which case the system can support radiating solitary waves. We construct a weakly-nonlinear d'Alembert-type solution of this system, considering the problem in the class of periodic functions on an interval of finite length. The solution is constructed using a novel multiple-scales procedure involving fast characteristic variables and two slow time variables. Asymptotic validity of the solution is carefully examined numerically. We also discuss the limiting case of an infinite interval for localised initial conditions. The solution is applied to study interactions of radiating solitary waves.