Harmonic wave propagation in viscoelastic heterogeneous materials Part I: Dispersion and damping relations

Abstract An analytico-numerical method is presented to study the propagation of plane harmonic waves in infinite periodic linear viscoelastic media. Part I considers only the dispersion and attenuation of acoustical longitudinal and shear waves. To show the accuracy of the method, examples of plane harmonic wave propagation in an infinite homogeneous medium and in a periodic layered viscoelastic medium are presented. The method is then used to calculate the damping and dispersion relations for a fibre-reinforced viscoelastic composite material. The results show clearly the influence of materials' viscoelastic properties and heterogeneities on the propagation of plane harmonic waves through the media.