Wave propagation in linear viscoelastic composites modelled as interpenetrating solid continua

This work concerns the behavior of shock waves and higher order discontinuities which propagate in a viscoelastic composite which is modelled as a mixture ot two interpenetrating solid continua. The response of the composite is assumed to be linear. The propagation conditions for shock and higher order waves are derived and it is shown that, in general, six waves of any order may propagate in any direction. It is shown that the amplitudes of all waves decay as they propagate. Detailed results are presented for isotropic composites.