Interaction of solitary pulses produced by high-rate loading with a free surface

Generation of nonlinear solitary waves in a system described by many-body i nteratomic interaction potentials is modeled for the first time. The behavi or of a free surface of Ni and Al crystallites under high-rate loading is s tudied. Calculations show that solitary pulses produced by high-rate loadin g increase in amplitude by about a factor of 1.5 at the free surface of Ni and remain almost unchanged at the free surface of Al. The nature of this e ffect is associated with differences in the skeleton-skeleton interaction o f Ni and Al.