Elastic waves in homogeneous and layered transversely isotropic media: Plane waves and Gaussian wave packets. A general approach

Abstract

Solutions to the equation of motion are derived for transversely isotropic media such as fiber composites, ideally fiber-textured austenitic steels, or extruded metal-matrix composites. Plane elastic waves are characterized by the corresponding wave vectors, making especially possible a quantiatve evaluation of the deviation of wave propagation direction and energy flux, which is characteristic for anisotropic materials. Reflection and refraction of plane waves at an interface between two arbitrarily oriented transversely isotropic media is examined yielding an algorithm that provides the respective reflection and tramission coefficients. The propagation of elastic waves of finite spatial and temporal extent is modeled using the concept of Gaussiona wave packets