Limits of the uni-directional pulse propagation approximation


Abstract in English

I apply the method of characteristics to both bi-directional and uni-directional pulse propagation in dispersionless media containing nonlinearity of arbitrary order. The differing analytic predictions for the shocking distance quantify the effects of the uni-directional approximation used in many pulse propagation models. Results from numerical simulations support the theoretical predictions, and reveal the nature of the coupling between forward and backward waves.

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