Strain solitary waves in inhomogeneous wave guides

The paper presents recent results of the research on strain solitary wave (soliton) evolution in elastic wave guides with different types of inhomogeneities. We analyze in calculations, numerical simulations and in experiments how physical or geometrical inhomogeneities affect the parameters of a density soliton propagating in it. In our experiments strain solitons are produced in a wave guide from an initial shock wave generated in the surrounding water by laser evaporation of a metallic target immersed into it nearby the input edge of the wave guide. Strain solitons are recorded in a desired part of the wave guide by means of holographic interferometry that allows to visualize the whole process and to obtain the complete set of data at different stages of the wave evolution.