Waves in Random and Complex Media

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Lamb waves in stratified and functionally graded

plates: discrepancy, similarity, and convergence

Sergey V. Kuznetsov

To cite this article: Sergey V. Kuznetsov (2019): Lamb waves in stratified and functionally graded
plates: discrepancy, similarity, and convergence, Waves in Random and Complex Media, DOI:
10.1080/17455030.2019.1683257

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WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA
https://doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2019.1683257

Lamb waves in stratified and functionally graded plates:

discrepancy, similarity, and convergence
Sergey V. Kuznetsova,b,c
a Ishlinsky Institute for Problems in Mechanics RAS, Moscow, Russia; b Bauman Moscow State Technical
University, Moscow, Russia; c Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, Moscow, Russia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Dispersion of Lamb waves propagating in stratified and function- Received 4 May 2019
ally graded (FG) plates is analyzed by a newly developed variant of Accepted 14 October 2019
Cauchy sextic formalism. Comparative analysis of Lamb wave disper- KEYWORDS
sion in stratified, FG, and homogenized plates reveals a substantial Lamb waves; polarization;
discrepancy in dispersion properties of the studied media, making dispersion; spectral analysis;
the use of homogenization techniques almost meaningless, with the stratified media
only exception at the limiting phase velocity that corresponds to van-
ishing frequency. At the same time, dispersion curves in the stratified
plates converge to the corresponding curves in the FG plate at the
increasing number of the stratification layers.

1. Introduction
The current research is devoted to analyze dispersion properties of Lamb waves propagat-
ing in homogenous, stratified, and functionally graded (FG) plates with transverse inhomo-
geneity. The principle target is to find possible similarities and peculiarities in dispersion of
these waves in a broad range of frequencies and phase velocities.
Herein, dispersion of these waves is analyzed by a newly developed variant of Cauchy
sextic formalism and the exponential fundamental matrix method [1–3], coupled with the
multiprecision numerical method [4], that allowed us studying spectral properties of Lamb
waves in stratified plates with a large number of layers ( > 50) and at sufficiently high
frequencies without the need in homogenization and asymptotic analysis. It should be
noted that the comparative analysis of Lamb wave dispersion in stratified, FG, and homog-
enized plates revealed a substantial discrepancy in dispersion properties of the studied
media, making the use of homogenization techniques almost meaningless, with the only
exception at the limiting phase velocity that corresponds to the vanishing frequency. At
the same time, it was observed that the dispersion curves of stratified plates converge to
the corresponding curves of the FG plate at the increasing number of stratification layers;
the observed convergence makes it possible to replace an FG plate by a suitably chosen
stratified one.

CONTACT Sergey V. Kuznetsov [email protected]

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

2 S. V. KUZNETSOV

Lamb waves play an important role in various applications of acoustical nondestruc-

tive testing of material properties [5] and evaluation of possible defects [6] in different
applications starting from nano- and microscales [7] to geophysics [8].
Legendre polynomials are quite often used for solving the dispersion equation in strat-
ified plates and FG plates with continuous transverse heterogeneous [9,10], including
attenuating Lamb waves (see [11]).
Quite often instead of analyzing Lamb waves in stratified or (FG) plates, various homog-
enization theories are used [12–15]. The homogenization is aimed at finding averaged
properties of a complicated composite medium by replacing a heterogeneous compos-
ite with a homogeneous continuum, which has in some sense an adequate response.
Some of the homogenization theories are applied to both static and dynamic problems,
e.g. Voigt and Reuss homogenization techniques yielding the so-called Voigt – Reuss fork
for the upper and lower bounds of the homogenized elastic moduli [12]. Similarly, more
advanced methods based on constructing a representative volume element [13,14] and
different self-consistent approaches [15] are equally applied in statics and dynamics. The
former methods include different variants of the two-scale asymptotic expansions (in space
domain) [16–20], and the latter are mainly based on the methods utilizing Eshelby’s trans-
formation strain in both statics [14] and dynamics [21,22]. For static problems of stratified
plates, the homogenization theory is quite often constructed by applying the Murat–Tartar
approach [23,24], which yields the appearance of the induced anisotropy.
Along with the universal approaches, there are several homogenization methods used
primarily in dynamics. Regarding Lamb waves propagating in layered media, the closed-
form expression for the limiting velocity at ω → 0 of the fundamental symmetric mode was
derived in [25] by combining Cauchy formalism and the exponential fundamental matrices.
The closed-form expression for the limiting wave velocity c2,lim of Lamb wave propagating
in a layered plate with homogeneous isotropic layers is as follows [26]:
   N 
 N
  
lim c(ω) ≡ c =2  μ h λk +μk
/ ρ h (1)
2,lim k k λk +2μk k k
ω→0
k=1 k=1

where c is the phase velocity; ω is the frequency; λk and μk are Lame constants of the
kth layer; hk and ρk are depth and material density of the kth layer, correspondingly;
N is the overall number of layers. In case of a homogeneous single-layered isotropic plate,
expression (1) yields [27]

μ(λ+μ)
lim c(ω) ≡ c2,lim = 2 ρ(λ+2μ) (2)
ω→0

Another approach for constructing the low-frequency asymptotic of the fundamental

symmetric mode along with some higher modes of Lamb waves with complex wave num-
ber is considered in [28,29]. For doubly periodic media exhibiting properties low-frequency
stop bands with respect to the anti-plane shear waves, and the corresponding asymptotes
were constructed in [30] (see also [31]).

2. Modified Cauchy formalism

The discussed modified Cauchy formalism follows recent publications by Kuznetsov [2,3]
on constructing the exact solutions of the dispersion equations for anisotropic FG plates
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 3

Figure 1. FG Plate: unit vectors n and ν indicate the direction of propagation and normal to the median
plane ν , respectively.

with arbitrary transverse inhomogeneity. Note that the original Cauchy formalism [32] is
intended for analyzing dispersion of Lamb waves propagating in stratified plates with
anisotropic but homogeneous layers.

2.1. Governing equations

The linear equations of motion for anisotropic inhomogeneous material can be written in
a form

divC(x) · ·∇u(x,t) = ρ(x)ü(x, t) (3)

where C(x) is the fourth-order elasticity tensor assumed to be strongly elliptic, u(x,t) is
the displacement field, ρ(x) is the material density, t is the time, and x ∈ R3 is the spatial
coordinate. Hereafter, propagation of harmonic Lamb wave in a plate with the transverse
inhomogeneity is specified by the transverse dimensionless complex coordinate

x = ir x · ν (4)

where ν is the unit normal to the median plane, r is the wave number having dimension
√
l−1 , and i = −1 (see Figure 1) and the origin of the global coordinate system belongs to
the median plane ν .
The wave number r can be defined by the following expression r = ωcP−1 max
where cPmax
denotes maximum velocity of P-waves, that may vary across thickness of the plate.
In case of isotropy Equation (3) becomes

(λ(x) + μ(x))∇divu(x, t) + μ(x)u(x, t)

+ ∇(λ(x) + μ(x))divu(x, t) + ∇μ(x) · (∇u(x, t))T = ρ(x)ü(x, t) (5)

where λ and μ are Lame’s constants.

The following wave representation for Lamb wave is adopted

u(x, t) = m(x)eir(n·x−ct) (6)

where m is the (unknown) variation in the vector wave amplitude across the thickness of
the plate, n is the unit vector indicating the direction of propagation, c is the independent
of x phase velocity of the Lamb wave, and t is the time.
4 S. V. KUZNETSOV

2.2. Modified Cauchy formalism

Introducing a new vectorial variable
d
w(x) = m(x) (7)
dx
and a six-dimensional vector
m(x)
Y(x) = (8)
w(x)
equations of motion (3) can be rewritten in terms of the vector Y:
d
Y(x) = G(x) · Y(x) (9)
dx
where G(x) is the six-dimensional matrix

0 I
G(x) = (10)
−A−1
1 (x) · A3 (x) −A−1
1 (x) · A2 (x)

In Equation (10) 0 stands for the zero 3 × 3-matrix; Istands for the unit matrix, and the
three-dimensional matrices Ak are

A1 (x) = λ(x)ν ⊗ ν + 2μ(x)I

d λ(x) d μ(x)
A2 (x) = ν⊗ν+2 I + (λ(x) + 2μ(x))(n ⊗ ν + ν ⊗ n)
dx dx
d
A3 (x) = (λ(x) + 2μ(x))(n ⊗ ν + ν ⊗ n) + λ(x)n ⊗ n + 2μ(x)I − ρ(x)c2 I (11)
dx
Now, the fundamental solution of Equation (9) can be represented in the exponential
form (see [2]):
E(x) = eF(x) (12)
where

F(x) ≡ G(x)dx (13)

stands for the anti-derivative of G(x).

2.3. Boundary conditions

Equation (9) should be accomplished by the traction-free boundary conditions at x = ±irh

tν (x, t) ≡ ν · C(x) · ·∇u(x, t)|x=±irh = 0 (14)

Equations (14) can be rewritten in terms of vector Y:

tν (x) ≡ (A4 (x), A1 (x)) · Y(x)|x=±irh = 0 (15)

where
A4 (x) = λ(x)ν ⊗ n + μ(x)n ⊗ ν (16)
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 5

2.4. Dispersion equation

Now, with the account of the fundamental solution (12), boundary conditions (15) yield the
dispersion equation we are looking for (see [2,3]):

I
det (0, I) · T(irh) · =0 (17)
0

where
T(irh) ≡ Z(−irh) · E(−irh) · E−1 (irh) · Z−1 (irh) (18)
and
I 0
Z(x) = (19)
A4 (x) A1 (x)

Remark 2.1: (a) The dispersion equation (17) for a homogeneous plate was at first derived
in [32]. For such a case, expression (13) becomes

F(x) ≡ xG (20)

(b) For a stratified plate containing N homogeneous layers, the dispersion equation (18)
takes the form (see [32]):
  N  
I
det (0, I) · Tk (irhk ) · =0 (21)
0
k=1

where index k indicates the corresponding layer, and

Tk (irhk ) ≡ Zk (−irhk ) · e−2irhh Gk · Z−1

k (irhk ) (22)

Equations (17) and (21) will be used for comparing dispersion curves in FG and stratified
plates.

3. Dispersion in FG plate and stratified plates

3.1. FG plate
Herein, an FG plate with the asymmetric variation in its physical properties is considered
(see Figure 2).
The fundamental branches of Lamb waves in FG plates with the symmetric variation
in physical properties were studied in [3], revealing a close resemblance with the funda-
mental branches of Lamb waves in homogeneous plates. Now, fundamental and higher
branches of Lamb waves in FG plates with transverse asymmetric variation will be analyzed
and compared with the corresponding branches of the stratified plates at different numbers
of layers.
The physical properties of the studied FG plate are as follows:

E(x) = E0 (1 + iβr−1 x), ν = const, ρ = const, h = const (23)

where E is Young’s modulus, ν is Poisson’s ratio, ρ is the material density, and 2h is the
thickness of the plate. According to (23), only Young’s modulus is varied across the thickness
6 S. V. KUZNETSOV

Figure 2. FG plate with symmetric and asymmetric variation in physical properties.

Figure 3. The first 30 dispersion curves of Lamb waves in the FG plate (23).

of the plate, while all other parameters remain unchanged. Note that the averaged across
the thickness of the plate Young’s modulus equals to E0 .
Applying the modified Cauchy formalism defined in the previous section allowed us con-
structing dispersion curves for an FG plate with physical parameters defined by Equations
(23) and
E0 = 0.6 β = 0.4; ν = 0.25; ρ = 1; h=1 (24)
The first 30 dispersion curves are given in Figures 3 and 4; these curves are plotted in terms
of the dimensionless variables:
ωh c
ω̃ = , c̃ = (25)
cPmax cPmax
Thus, ω̃ and c̃ are, respectively, dimensionless frequency and phase velocity, and
cRmax and cRmin are, respectively, maximal and minimal Rayleigh wave velocities across the
thickness of the plate.
Analysis of dispersion curves in Figure 3 clearly reveals the presence of one vertical
asymptote (for the leftmost curve) at the relative phase velocity
cRmin
c̃Rmin = (26)
cPmax
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 7

Figure 4. Fundamental branches of Lamb waves in the homogenized plate.

where cRmin relates to the minimal Rayleigh velocity of the considered FG plate; note that
at (24) c̃Rmin ≈ 0.2376. All other branches apparently do not exhibit vertical asymptotes, at
least within the studied frequencies.

3.2. Homogeneous plate

Comparing dispersion curves of Lamb waves in the homogeneous (Figure 4) and FG plates
reveals their substantial discrepancy.
Indeed, for the homogeneous plate, two vertical asymptotes are clearly visible at the
relative velocities:
cR cS
c̃R = , c̃S = (27)
cPmax cPmax
where indices R and S are referred to Rayleigh and S waves, respectively. Thus, at large
frequencies, the behavior of dispersion curves relating to FG and homogeneous plates is
essentially different.

3.3. Stratification convergence

Herein, a sequence of stratified plates with the individual layers having properties defined
by averaging within the thickness of the layer Equation (23):

E0 ir(hn +hn )
En = (1 + iβr−1 x)dx = E0 (1 − βhn ) (28)
2irhn ir(hn −hn )

where hn = Im(xn ) is the imaginary part of the coordinate xn of the median plane of the
nth layer, and hn is the thickness of the corresponding layer. The overall number of the
stratification layers will be denoted by k.
For example, stratification (28) at k = 5 and layers of the same thickness (h = 0.2) with
account of (24), yields E1 = 0.28, E2 = 0.44, E3 = 0.6, E4 = 0.76, E5 = 0.92.
8 S. V. KUZNETSOV

Figure 5. A set of two lower branches (A0,k ; S0,k ) for stratified plates with the overall number of stratifi-
cation layers k = 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and the FG plate.

In Figure 5 are plotted the two lower (fundamental) branches of Lamb waves for stratified
plates (28) with the different numbers of stratification layers (k = 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30) and
the FG plate (23).
The plots in Figure 5 clearly demonstrate the convergence of the dispersion curves with
the increasing number of stratification layers to the corresponding curves of the FG plate,
at least within the studied frequency band. That observation can be important from both
theoretical and practical points of view, especially when a forecast of the possible proper-
ties of FG plates should be made; with sufficient accuracy dispersion properties of the FG
plate can be approximated by the stratified plate with a relatively small number (k ≥ 10) of
stratification layers. Numerical data given in Figure 5 revealing convergence of dispersion
curves in the stratified plates to the corresponding curves in the FG plate are apparently
observed for the first time.
Another observation concerns the second limiting velocity c2,lim . As plots in Figure 5
show, all the dispersion curves S0,k and S0,FG converge at ω → 0 to the same (relative)
limiting velocity c̃2,lim = c2,lim /cPmax , and its value does not dependent on the number of
stratification layers. Thus, the c̃2,lim value for a FG plate can be defined by Equation. (1) at
any k, since c̃2,lim is independent of k.

4. Concluding remarks
Dispersion of harmonic Lamb waves propagating in FG, stratified, and homogeneous plates
was analyzed, revealing some peculiarities, that can be important in various applications
from the NDT in microelectronics to geophysical applications.
The comparative analysis of Lamb wave dispersion in FG, stratified, and homogeneous
plates revealed a substantial discrepancy in dispersion properties of the studied media,
making the use of homogenization techniques at the non-vanishing frequencies almost
meaningless (Figures 3 and 4), with the only exception of the limiting phase velocity (c2,lim )
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 9

corresponding to vanishing frequency of symmetric fundamental branch, at which all the

curves coincide.
At the same time, it was observed that the dispersion curves of stratified plates converge
to the corresponding curves of the FG plate at the increasing number of stratification layers;
the observed convergence makes it possible to replace an FG plate by a suitably chosen
stratified one (Figure 5).
Concerning the applied formalism for constructing dispersion equation and the corre-
sponding solution, it should be noted that the developed method is presumably the first
yielding the solution for the FG plate with arbitrary transverse inhomogeneity, in the closed
form. Its only apparent drawback is the assumption that the components of the elasticity
tensor should be of class C 1 along the transverse coordinate, while the material density
could be of class C 0 .

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding
The author thanks the RFBR [Grants 17-08-00311, 18-58-4100, 19-01-00100] and the Russian Academy
of Sciences Presidium Programs for their partial financial support.

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