Propagation of waves in masonry-like solids

This paper deals with the propagation of progressive elastic waves in masonry-like solids. The constitutive equation of masonry-like materials models the mechanical behaviour of materials, such as masonry, rocks and stones, that do not withstand tensile stresses. The stress function delivering the Cauchy stress T corresponding to an infinitesimal strain tensor E is nonlinear and differentiable on an open subset W of the set of all strains. We consider the propagation of small amplitude elastic waves in a masonry-like body subjected to a homogenous strain field E belonging to W. We obtain the propagation condition, which involves the acoustic tensor A(E; n) depending on both E and the direction of propagation n, and prove that, due to the presence of cracks, the wave propagation velocities in masonry are lower than in a linear elastic material.