We have frequently used the following representative waveform equation in order to describe several kinds of waves (waves on a string, sound waves in gases and solids, etc.) where 0 is the amplitude of the sinusoidal displacement wave. The amplitude 0 is a constant that is specified by the source of the waves which may be a speaker for sound waves in air. For a wave equation, we observe the same amplitude 0 everywhere along the wave that is propagating in a lossless media. Such waves are called one-dimensional or plane waves. The terminology of a plane wave results from the fact that all points transverse to the direction of propagation reside in a plane.

Chapter Contents:

• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.2 Conservation of Energy Flow as Applied to Spherical Waves
• 7.3 Nonuniform Wave Medium
• 7.4 Multidimensional Waves
• 7.5 Problems

Inspec keywords: shock waves; acoustic wave propagation; Doppler effect

Other keywords: sinusoidal displacement wave; mechanical waves; multidimensional waves; plane waves; spherical waves; nonuniform media; one-dimensional waves; sound waves; propagation

Subjects: Nonlinear acoustics and macrosonics; General linear acoustics