Hyperbolicity of Velocity-Stress Equations for Waves in Anisotropic Elastic Solids

This paper reports mathematical properties of the three-dimensional, first-order, velocity-stress equations for propagating waves in anisotropic, linear elastic solids. The velocity-stress equations are useful for numerical solution. The original equations include the equation of motion and the elasticity relation differentiated by time. The result is a set of nine, first-order partial differential equations (PDEs) of which the velocity and stress components are the unknowns. Cast into a vector-matrix form, the equations can be characterized by three Jacobian matrices. Hyperbolicity of the equations is formally proved by analyzing (i) the spectrum of a linear combination of the three Jacobian matrices, and (ii) the eigenvector matrix for diagonalizing the linearly combined Jacobian matrices. In the three-dimensional space, linearly combined Jacobian matrices are shown to be connected to the classic Christoffel matrix, leading to a simpler derivation for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The results in the present paper provide critical information for applying modern numerical methods, originally developed for solving conservation laws, to elastodynamics.