On the dynamic coefficient of load generating an expanding spherical stress wave in elastic medium

In an unbounded, linearly-elastic, compressible and isotropic medium there is a spherical cavity. Its wall is loaded by the time-dependent pressure, which generates in the medium a spherical stress wave expanding from the cavity. The influence of the load character on the wave parameters was studied and the dynamic coefficient of load was regarded as the main compared parameter. Because of the spherical divergence of the wave, its parameters decrease in the inverse proportion to the square and the cube of the distance from the cavity center, so their maximum absolute values appear at the cavity wall and, therefore, the analysis was conducted there. For the pressure linearly increasing to the constant value two practical limiting values of increase time were found, which determinate three ranges of the load character. In the first, for short times, the load can be considered as surge for which the dynamic coefficient is the highest. In the third, for long times, the load can be considered as quasi-static, neglecting its dynamic effects. However, in the second range, the load has a transitional character and the parameters of the wave generated by it should be determined with the use of precise formulae presented in the paper. The maximum time of acting of the constant pressure pulse, for which the wave parameters do not exceed their static values yet, was also determined. However, a significant decrease of the cavity radius was observed as the effect of unloading.