Scattering of solitary waves from interfaces in granular media.

The scattering of nonlinear solitary waves from an interface is numerically studied in detail. The interface is created by joining two one-dimensional chains of spherical beads of different radii (masses). Beads are assumed to be in Hertzian contact, without static precompression, and to have identical mechanical properties. In addition to previous findings, it is observed that in both cases, when a solitary wave travels from the light to the heavy system and vice versa, secondary multipulse structures are generated at the interface, being backscattered and forward scattered, respectively.