Pulse Waves in the Viscoelastic Kelvin–Voigt Model: A Revisited Approach

We calculate the mechanical response rx,t of an initially quiescent semi-infinite homogeneous medium to a pulse applied at the origin, and this is achieved within the framework of the Kelvin–Voigt model. Although this problem has been extensively studied in the literature because of its wide range of applications—particularly in seismology—here, we present a solution in a novel integral form. This integral solution avoids the numerical computation of the solution in terms of the inverse Laplace transform; that is, numerical integration in the complex plane. In particular, we derive integral form expressions for both delta-pulse and step-pulse excitations which are simpler and more computationally efficient than those previously reported in the literature. Furthermore, the obtained expressions allow us to obtain simple asymptotic formulas for rx,t as x,t→0,∞ for both step- and delta-type pulses.