Abstract
This paper investigates the characteristics of nonlinear wave propagation in inhomogeneous media. The density of the inhomogeneous medium treated herein is assumed to change slowly in the spatial direction. An approach utilizing the Soliton Theory is proposed to analyze nonlinear wave phenomena in (simple) inhomogeneous media. The results are summarized as follows : The final equation for a plane wave propagating in a 1-dimensional finite elastic medium with inhomogeneity is represented by the modified K-dV equation including the dissipative term. From numerical analyses, the number of scattering solitary waves due to the medium's inhomogeneity increases with the intensity of the inhomogeneity.
