A partition of unity finite element method for numerical simulation of short wave propagation in solids is presented. The finite element spaces were constructed by multiplying the standard isoparametric finite element shape functions, which form a partition of unity, with the local subspaces defined on the corresponding shape functions, which include a priori knowledge about the wave motion equation in trial spaces and approximately reproduce the highly oscillatory properties within a single element. Numerical examples demonstrate the performance of the proposed partition of unity finite element in both computational accuracy and efficiency.