Supershear Rayleigh waves at a soft interface
arXiv:1301.1024 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.236101
Abstract
We report on the experimental observation of waves at a liquid foam surface propagating faster than the bulk shear waves. The existence of such waves has long been debated, but the recent observation of supershear events in a geophysical context has inspired us to search for their existence in a model viscoelastic system. An optimized fast profilometry technique allowed us to observe on a liquid foam surface the waves triggered by the impact of a projectile. At high impact velocity, we show that the expected subshear Rayleigh waves are accompanied by faster surface waves that can be identified as supershear Rayleigh waves.
4 pages, 4 figures, 2 supplementary videos