The elastodynamic Li\'enard-Wiechert potentials and elastic fields of non-uniformly moving point and line forces

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the fundamental problem of the non-uniform subsonic motion of a point force and line forces in an unbounded, homogeneous, isotropic medium in analogy to the electromagnetic Li\'enard-Wiechert potentials. The exact closed-form solutions of the displacement and elastic fields produced by the point force and line forces are calculated. The displacement fields can be identified with the elastodynamic Li\'enard-Wiechert tensor potentials. For a non-uniformly moving point force, we decompose the elastic fields into a radiation part and a non-radiation part. We show that the solution of a non-uniformly moving point force is the generalization of the Stokes solution towards the non-uniform motion. For line forces the mathematical solutions are given in the form of time-integrals and, therefore, their motion depends on the history.