Wave Propagation in Laminated Composites

Abstract

The propagation characteristics of waves depend on the plate thickness, boundary conditions, elastic properties, and density of the material. The analyses of wave propagation provide the information for better interpretation and utilization of composite laminate materials. This paper presents a theoretical approach developed as an extension of Mindlin theory to predict the characterization of wave propagation in antisymmetric angle-ply laminated plates. We formulated the equations of motion by substituting the deformations including three displacement functions and two rotary functions. For any case of laminated plates, more precise wave velocities were calculated. Then, the velocity-frequency curves of waves from the numerical results and the influence of the laminate angle, number of layers, and stacking sequence are investigated systematically.