ABSTRACT

Ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) plays an increasingly important role in determining properties and detecting defects in composite materials, and the analysis of wave behavior is crucial to effectively using NDE techniques. The complexity of elastic wave propagation in anisotropic media has led to a reliance on numerical methods of analysis-methods that are often quite time-consuming and whose results yield even further difficulties in extracting explicit phenomena and characteristics.

Innovative and insightful, Elastic Waves in Anisotropic Laminates establishes a set of high-performance, analytical-numerical methods for elastic wave analysis of anisotropic layered structures. The treatment furnishes a comprehensive introduction, sound theoretical development, and applications to smart materials, plates, and shells. The techniques, detailed in both the time and frequency domains, include methods that combine the finite element method (FEM) with the Fourier transform approach and the strip element method (SEM). These -methods can also be used for expediently finding the Green's function for anisotropic laminates useful for inverse problems related to wave propagation, and methods for inverse analyses, including conjugate gradient methods, and genetic algorithms are also introduced.

The text is complemented by many examples generated using software codes based on the techniques developed. Filled with charts and illustrations, Elastic Waves in Anisotropic Laminates is accessible even to readers from non-engineering backgrounds and offers a unique opportunity to discover methods that can lead to an understanding of the dynamic characteristics and wave motion behaviors of advanced composite materials.

Fundaments of Waves in Elastic Solids. Waves in Plates of Functionally Graded Material. Free Wave Motion in Anisotropic Laminates. Forced Wave Motion in Composite Laminates. Characteristics of Waves in Composite Laminates. Free Wave Motion in Anisotropic Laminated Bars: Finite Strip Element Method. Free Wave Motion in Composite Laminated Bars: Semi-Exact Method. Transient Waves in Composite Laminates. Waves in Functionally Graded Plates. Waves in Anisotropic Functionally Graded Piezoelectric Plates. Strip Element Method for Stress Waves in Anisotropic Solids. Wave Scattering by Cracks in Composite Laminates. Waves Scattering by Flaws in Composite Laminates. Bending Waves in Anisotropic Laminated Plates. Characteristics of Waves in Composite Cylinders. Wave Scattering by Cracks in Composite Cylinders. Inverse Identification of Impact Loads Using Elastic Waves. Inverse Determination of Material Constants of Composite Laminates.