Solution to Problems for the 1-D Wave Equation

18.303LinearPartialDierentialEquations
MatthewJ.Hancock
1 Problem 1
(i) Supposethataninnitestring hasaninitialdisplacement

x+1, 1 x 0

u(x,0)=f(x) = 1 2x, 0 x 1/2

0, x<1andx>1/2
andzeroinitialvelocityu
t
(x,0)= 0. Writedownthesolutionof thewaveequation
u
tt
=u
xx
with ICs u(x,0) = f(x) and u
t
(x,0) = 0 using DAlemberts formula. Illustrate
the nature of the solution by sketching the ux-proles y = u(x,t) of the string
displacementfort=0,1/2,1,3/2.
Solution: DAlembertsformulais
1

x+t

u(x,t) = f(x t) +f(x+t) + g(s) ds

2
xt
Inthiscaseg(s)= 0sothat
1
u(x,t) = (f(x t) +f(x+t)) (1)
2
Theproblemreducestoaddingshifted copiesoff(x) andthenplottingtheassociated
u(x,t). Todeterminewherethefunctionsoverlaporwhereu(x,t) iszero,weplot
thecharacteristicsxt=1andxt= 1/2inthespacetimeplane(xt) inFigure
1.
Fort= 0,(1) becomes
1
u(x,0)= (f(x) +f(x))=f(x)
2
1
Fall 2006





0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
R
1
R
2
R
3
R
4
R
5
R
6
x+t=1
x+t=1/2 xt=1
xt=1/2
t

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
x
Figure1: Sketchofcharacteristicsfor1(a).
Fort= 1/2,(1) becomes

1 1 1
u(x, t) = f x +f x +
2 2 2
Notethat

1
2
+1, 1 x
1
2
x 0

1
1
2
, 0 x
1
2
f x = 12 x
2
1/2
1
2
1
2
0, x <1and x >1/2


x +
1
2
1
2
1
2
x ,

1
2
22x, x 1 =

1
2
0, x< andx>1

andsimilarly,

3
2
,
3
2
1
2
x x +

1
f x + =
2
1
2
2x, x 0
3
2
andx>0 0, x<

Thus, over the region

1
2
x 0 we have to be careful about adding the two
2


functions;intheotherregionseitheroneorbothfunctionsarezero. Wehave

1 1 1 1
u x, = f x +f x +
2 2 2 2

3
4

3
2
1
2
x
2
x + ,

1
4
1
2
x
2
x 0 +

1
4
1
2
x
2
0 x + = ,

1
2
1x x 1

3
2
andx > 1 0, x <

Fort = 1,yourplotofthecharacteristicsshowsthatf (x 1)andf (x +1) do

notoverlap,soyoujusthavetoworryaboutthedierentregions. Notethat

(x +1) +1, 1 x +1 0

f (x +1) = 12 (x +1) , 0 x +1 1/2

0, x +1< 1andx +1> 1/2

x +2, 2 x 1

= 12x, 1 x 1/2

0, x < 2andx > 1/2

x, 0 x 1

f (x 1) = 32x, 1 x 3/2

0, x < 0andx > 3/2

sothat
1
u(x, 1) = (f (x 1) +f (x +1))
2

x
2
+1, 2 x 1

1
2
x, 1 x 1/2

x
2
, 0 x 1 =

3
2
x, 1 x 3/2

0, x < 2, 1/2< x < 0, andx > 3/2

Fort = 3/2,theforwardandbackwardwavesareevenfurtherapart,and

x
1
2
,
1
2
x
3
2

3
f x =
3
2
42x x 2 ,
2
1
2
0, andx > 2

x <

5
2
5
2
3
2
x + , x

3
f x + =
2
22x,
3
2
x 1
0, x <
5
2
andx > 1

3
0
0.5
1
u
(
x
,
0
)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
0
0.5
1
u
(
x
,
1
/
2
)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
0
0.5
1
u
(
x
,
1
)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
0
0.5
1
u
(
x
,
3
/
2
)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
x
Figure2: Plotofu(x, t
0
) fort
0
=0, 1/2, 1, 3/2for1(a).
andhence

3 1 3 3
u x,
2
=
2
f x
2
+f x +
2

+
5
4
,
5
2
3
2
,
x
x

2
3
2
1x, x 1,

x
2

1
4
1
2
x
3
2
, = ,

2x

3
2
x 2, ,
5
2
< x <
1
2

0, x < 1 , andx > 2 ,

Thesolutionu(x, t
0
)isplottedattimest 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2inFigure2. A3Dversion =
0
ofu(x, t) isplottedinFigure3.
(ii) Repeattheprocedurein(i) forastring thathaszeroinitialdisplacementbut
isgivenaninitialvelocity

1, 1 x < 0

u
t
(x, 0)=g (x) = 1, 0 x 1

0, x < 1andx > 1

Solution: DAlembertsformulais
1

x+t

u(x, t) = f (x t) +f (x +t) + g (s) ds

2
xt
4
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
3
2
1
0
1
2
3
0
0.5
1
x
t
u
(
x
,
t
)
Figure 3: 3D version of u(x, t) for 1(a).
In this case f (s) = 0 so that
u(x, t) =
1
2

x+t
xt
g (s) ds
The problem reduces to noting where x t lie in relation to 1 and evaluating the
integral. These characteristics are plotted in Figure 1 in the notes.
You can proceed in two ways. First, you can draw two more characterstics xt = 0
so you can decide where the integration variable s is with respect to zero, and hence
if g (s) = 1 or 1. The second way is to note that for a < b and |a| , |b| < 1,

b
a
g (s) ds = |b| |a|
for positive and negative a, b. Ill use the second method; the answers you get from
the rst are the same.
In Region R
1
,
|x t| 1
5

andhencethereare3cases: x t < 0,x
1

x+t
u(x, t) =
2
xt
g (s) ds
1
= (|x +t| |x t|)
2
InRegionR
2
,x +t > 1and1< x t < 1,sothat
1 x+t

1
1 1
u(x, t) = + g (s) ds = g (s) ds
2 2
xt 1 xt
1
= (1|x t|)
2
InRegionR
3
,x t < 1and1< x +t < 1,sothat
1

x+t

x+t
1
u(x, t) = + g (s) ds = g (s) ds = (|x +t| |1|)
2 2
xt 1
2
1
1
= (|x +t| 1)
2
InRegionR
4
,x +t > 1andx t < 1,sothat

1 1 x+t

1
u(x, t) = + + g (s) ds
2
xt 1 1
1
1 1
= g (s) ds = (1+1)
2 2
1
= 0
InRegionR
5
,x +t < 1andhenceu(x, t) = 0. InregionR
6
,x t > 1,sothat
u(x, t)= 0.
Att = 0,
1
x
u(x, 0)= g (s) ds = 0
2
x
Att = 1/2,theregionsR
n
aregiveninthenotesand

1
2

x +
1
2

x
1
2
, x R
1
=
1
2
,
1
2

1
2
1

x
1
2
, x R
2
=
1
2
,
3
2
1

u x, =
2
1
2
1
2
1 , x R =
3
2
,
1
2

x +
3

0, x R
5
, R ={|x| > 3/2}
6
Theabsolutevaluesareeasytoresolve(i.e. writewithoutthem)inthiscase. For
example,forx [1/2, 1/2],wehave|x 1/2| =(x 1/2). Thus,

1
2
,
1
2
, x R x =
1

3
4
1
2
3
2
2
2
3
4

x
1 x R

= , ,
2
u x, =

3
2
,
1
2
2 x R = ,
3

0, x R
5
, R ={|x| > 3/2}
6
6

Att= 1,theregionsR
n
aregiveninthenotesand

u(x, 1)=
1
2
1
2
(1|x 1|) , x R
2
= [0, 2] ,
(|x +1| 1) , x R
3
= [2, 0] ,

0, x R
5
, R
6
={|x| >3/2} .
Youcouldleaveyouranswerlikethis,orwriteitwithoutabsolutevalues(haveto
divide [0, 2]and [2, 0] intocases):

x/2, x [0, 1] ,

1
2
(2 x) , x [1, 2] ,
1
2
(x +2) x= [2, 1] u(x, 1)=

x/2, x=[1, 0] ,
0, x R
5
, R
6
={|x| >3/2} .
Att=3/2,theregionsR
n
arenotgivenexplicitly,butcanbefoundfromFigure
1inthenotesbynothingwherethelinet= 3/2crosseseachregion:

1
2
1

x
3
2

, x R
2
=
1
2
,
5
2

3
1
2

x +
3
2
1 , x R
3
=
5
2
,
1
2
u x, =
2

0, x R
4
, R
5
, R
6
={|x| >5/2or |x| <1/2}
Again,youcouldleaveyouranswerlikethis,orwriteit without absolutevalues(have
todivide [1/2, 5/2]and [5/2, 1/2] intocases):

1
2
x
1
2
, x R
2
=
1
2
,
3
2

5
2
1
2
x , x R
2
=
3
2
,
5
2

3
1
2
x +
5
2
, x R
3
=
5
2
,
3
2
u x, =
2
1
2
x +
1
2
, x R
3
=
3
2
,
1
2

0, x R
4
, R
5
, R
6
={|x| >5/2or |x| <1/2}
Thesolutionu(x, t
0
)isplottedattimest
0
= 0, 1/2, 1, 3/2inFigure4.
2 Problem 2
(i) Foraninnitestring(i.e.wedont worry aboutboundary conditions),whatinitial
conditionswouldgiverisetoapurelyforwardwave?Expressyouranswerintermsof
theinitialdisplacementu(x, 0)=f(x)andinitialvelocityu
t
(x, 0)=g (x)andtheir

derivativesf

(x),g (x). Interprettheresultintuitively.
Solution: RecallinclassthatwewriteDAlembertssolutionas
u(x, t) =P(x t) +Q(x +t) (2)
7




1
0
1
u
(
x
,
0
)
u
(
x
,
1
)

u
(
x
,
1
/
2
)

3 2 1 0 1 2 3
1
0
1
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
1
0
1
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
u
(
x
,
3
/
2
)

1
0
1
3 2 1 0 1 2 3
x
Figure4: Plotofu(x,t
0
) fort
0
= 0,1/2,1,3/2for1(b).
where
1
x
Q(x) = f(x) + g(s) ds+Q(0) P(0) (3)
2
0
1
x
P(x) = f(x) g(s) ds Q(0) +P(0) (4)
2
0
Toonlyhaveaforwardwave,wemusthave
Q(x) =const=q
1
Substituting(3) gives
1
x
Q(x) =q
1
= f(x) + g(s) ds+Q(0) P(0)
2
0
Dierentiating inx gives
1 df
0 = +g(x)
2 dx
Thus
df
g(x) = (5)
dx
8
Substituting(5) into(3) gives
1
Q(x) = (f(0) +Q(0) P(0))
2
andsettingx= 0yieldsf(0) P(0)=Q(0). Substituting thisand(5)into(4)gives
1
P(x) = (2f(x) f(0) Q(0) +P(0))=f(x)
2
andhence
u(x, t) =f(x t) .
Thedisplacementu(x, t)onlycontainstheforwardwave!Intuitively,wehavesetthe
initial velocity of thestringinsuch away,givenbyEq. (5),astocancel thebackward
wave.
(ii)Againforaninnitestring,supposethatu(x, 0) =f(x)andu
t
(x, 0)=g (x)
arezerofor|x| >a,forsomereal numbera>0. Provethatift+x>aandtx>a,
thenthedisplacementu(x, t)ofthestringisconstant. Relatethisconstanttog (x).
Solution: DAlembertssolutionforthewaveequationis
1

x+t
1
u(x, t) = (f(x t) +f(x +t)) + g (s) ds
2 2
xt
Ifx +t>a andt x>a (thisistheRegionR
4
!),then|x +t| >a and|x t| >a,
sothatf(x t)= 0. Furthermore,withx t<a andx +t>a wehave

x+t a
g (s) ds= g (s) ds= g (s) ds=c
a
xt a
Thusc
a
isjusttheareaunderthecurveg (x),and
c
a
u(x, t) = , x +t>a, t x>a.
2
3 Problem 3
Considerasemi-innitevibratingstring. Theverticaldisplacementu(x, t)satises
u
tt
= u
xx
, x 0, t 0
u(0, t) = 0, t 0 (6)
u
u(x, 0) = f(x) , (x, 0)=g (x) , x 0,
t
TheBCatinnityisthatu(x, t)mustremainboundedasx.
9

(a)ShowthatDAlembertsformulasolves(6)whenf(x)andg(x)areextended
tobeoddfunctions.
Solution: Letf

(x)and g(x)betheoddextensionsoff(x)andg(x),respec-
tively,
f

(x) =
f(x) , x 0 g(x) , x 0
, g(x) =
f(x) , x<0 g(x) , x<0
Youcancheckforyourself thatf

(x) and g(x) areoddfunctions,i.e.f

(x) =f

(x)
g(x) = g(x). We now write DAlemberts solution with f

(x) and and g(x)

replacingf(x)andg(x):
1

x+t

u(x,t) = f

(x t) +f

(x+t) + g(s) ds (7)

2
xt
Eq. (7)isDAlembertssolutionforthefollowing waveproblemontheinnitestring:
u
tt
= u
xx
, <x<, t 0
u
u(x,0) = f

(x) , (x,0)=g(x) , <x<.

t
Henceweknow(7)satisesthewaveequation,bythewaywefoundDAlemberts
formula. Ofcourse,youcancheckthatdirectly:
u
x
=
1
f

(x t) +f

(x+t) + g(x+t) g(x t)
2
1

g f

(x t) +f

(x+t) + (x+t) g (x t) u
xx
=
2
1
u
t
= f (x t) (1) +f

(x+t) +

g(x+t) g(x t) (1)
2
1

g f

(x t) (1)
2
+f

(x+t) + (x+t) g (x t) (1)

2
u
tt
=
2
Thusu
tt
=u
xx
. Also,forx 0,
u(x,0) = f

(x) =f(x)
u
t
(x,0) = g(x) =g(x)
Thus(7)satisestheICs. Lastly,
1

u(0,t) = f

(t) +f

(t) + g(s) ds
2
t
g(s)isodd,theintegralof Butsincef

isodd,f

(t) =f

(t)andsince g(s)overa
regionsymmetricabouttheoriginiszero! Hence
1
u(0,t) = f

(t) +f

(t) +0 = 0
2
10

t

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5
x
Figure5: Plotofcharacteristicsfor3(b).
whichveries(7)satisesthexedstring(u= 0)BCatx= 0.
(b) Let
sin
2
(x) , 1 x 2
f(x) =
0, 0 x 1, x 2
andg(x)= 0forx 0. Sketchu vs. x fort= 0,1,2,3.
Solution: DAlembertssolutionreducesto
1
u(x,t) = f

(x t) +f

(x+t)
2
Solving this reduces to nding where x t and x +t are and whether they are
negative. Theimportant characteristicsarext=1,2. Adrawingisuseful. The
characteristicsareplottedinFigure5andthesolutionu(x,t
0
)attimest
0
= 0,1,2,
inFigure6.
3
11
1
0
1
u
(
x
,
0
)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1
0
1
u
(
x
,
1
)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
1
0
1
u
(
x
,
2
)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
u
(
x
,
3
)

1
0
1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
x
Figure6: Plotofu(x,t
0
) fort
0
= 0,1,2,3for3(b).
4 Problem 4
The acoustic pressure in an organ pipe obeys the 1-D wave equation (in physical
variables)
2
p
tt
=c p
xx
wherec isthespeedofsoundinair. Eachorganpipeisclosedatoneendandopen
attheother. Attheclosedend,theBCisthatp
x
(0,t)=0,whileattheopenend,
theBCisp(l,t)= 0,wherel isthelengthofthepipe.
(a)Useseparationofvariablestondthenormalmodesp
n
(x,t).
(b)Givethefrequenciesof thenormal modesandsketch thepressuredistribution
forthersttwomodes.
(c) Given initial conditions p(x,0) = f(x) and p
t
(x,0) = g(x), write down
thegeneralinitialboundaryvalueproblem(PDE,BCs,ICs)fortheorganpipeand
determinetheseriessolutions.
Solution: Separatevariables
p
n
(x,t) =X(x) T(t)
12

sothatthePDEbecomes
T

X

=
c
2
T X
andsincetheleftsideisafunctionoft onlyandtherightafunctionofx only,then
bothsidesequalaconstant:
T

X

= =
c
2
T X
Theboundaryconditionsare
p

0 = (0,t) =X (0) T(t) , 0 =p(l,t) =X(l) T(t)
x
Foranon-trivialsolution,wemusthaveX

(0)= 0andX(l)=0. Weobtainthe
SturmLiouvilleproblem

X +X = 0; X (0)= 0=X(l)
Byreplacingxwithx/l inproblem4onassignment1,theeigenfunctionsandeigen-
valuesare
2n 1 x (2n 1)
2

2
X
n
(x)=cos ,
n
= , n= 1,2,3,...
2 l 4l
2
Thecorresponding timefunctionsare
T
n
(t) =
n
cos c
n
t +
n
sin c
n
t
Thusthenormalmodesare
p
n
(x,t) = X
n
(x) T
n
(t)

2n 1 x 2n 1 2n 1
= cos
n
cos ct +
n
sin ct
2 l 2l 2l
2n 1 x 2n 1
=
n
cos cos ct
n
2 l 2l
where
n
=
2
+
2
and
n
= arctan(
n
/
n
).
n n
(b) Theangularfrequency
n
of thenthmodeis
2n 1

n
= c
2l
andthusthefrequencyofthenthmodeis

n
2n 1 c
f
n
= =
2 4 l
13


1
p
2
(
x
,
t
)

p
1
(
x
,
t
)

0.5
0
0.5
1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x/L
Figure7:Variousphasesof thersttwonormal modesp
n
(x,t) (n= 1,2) with
n
= 1.
Notethattheenvelopes(solidlines)arejustcos((2n 1)x/(2l)).
Thus,thefrequenciesandpressuredistributionforthersttwonormalmodes(n=
1,2)are
1c

ct
f
1
= , p
1
(x,t) =
1
cos cos
1
4l 2l 2l
3c 3 x 3ct
f
2
= = 3f
1
, p
2
(x,t) =
2
cos cos
n
4l 2 l 2l
Variousphasesofthepressuredistributionsp
n
(x,t)ofthersttwonormalmodes
areplottedinFigure7,with
n
= 1. Noticethatp/x= 0atthecloseend(x= 0)
andp = 0attherightend(x =l). Thisarelikethestandingwavesthatappear
whenyoushakearopeatx= 0attachedtoawallatx=l.
(c)Thegeneralinitialboundaryvalueproblemfortheorganpipeis
2
p
tt
= c p
xx
, 0<x<l, t>0
p
(0,t) = 0=p(l,t) , t>0,
x
p
p(x,0) = f(x) , (x,0) =g(x) , 0<x<l.
t
Continuingfromabove,weincludingallthemodesp
n
(x,t) inourseriessolutionfor
14



p(x,t),

2n 1 x 2n 1 2n 1
p(x,t) = p
n
(x,t)= cos
n
cos ct +
n
sin ct
2 l 2l 2l
n=1 n=1
Imposing theICsgives

2n 1 x
f(x) =p(x,0) = cos
n
2 l
n=1

2n 1 x 2n 1
g(x) = (x,0) = cos c
n
t 2 l 2l
n=1
Thesearebothcosineseries. Multiplyingeachsidebycos((2m 1) x/(2l))and
integrating fromx= 0 tox=l andusingorthogonalitygives
2

l
2n 1 x

n
= f(x) cos dx,
l
0
2 l
2n 1 2

l
2n 1 x
c
n
= g(x) cos dx.
2l l
0
2 l
Thus
4

l
2n 1 x

n
= g(x) cos dx.
(2n 1) c 2 l
0
15