Impact of two elastic cylinders: Short-time solution

The problem of the longitudinal impact of two elastic cylinders is formulated in transform space (Fourier and Laplace) and then asymptotic inversions are obtained which are valid for short times following the impact, in the vicinity of the region of impact. It is shown that this response is related to the response of an “acoustic” half-space, subjected to a moving surface load, in which the velocity of sound corresponds to the velocity of P waves in the elastic medium.