A General Course in Traveling Waves

Traveling waves must be considered whenever the time for a disturbance to propagate from one place to another is important. A course with this as its theme has been developed to replace the usual course in transmission lines or distributed constant circuits. Emphasis is placed on the transmission line as a teaching vehicle, but plane waves in space; vibrating strings and membranes; acoustic waves in gases, liquids and solids; heat conduction; and chemical diffusion are also treated. The analogies between the "telegraphers' equations" and comparable equations describing nonelectrical phenomena are stressed. Transients are treated for two special cases: 1) lossless lines and acoustics, and 2) diffusion and heat transfer. Steady state analysis using phasors and the Smith Chart is applied to plane electromagnetic and acoustic waves at all angles of incidence, as well as to the transmission line. Spherical acoustic waves are treated briefly.