Dispersion of guided-waves in heterogeneous and anisotropic elastic plates: A probabilistic approach

Abstract In this paper, we present a new approach to study Lamb-type waves of anisotropic elastic plates in a probabilistic framework. The study and analysis are carried out on an elastic plate whose randomly varied elastic properties in the through-thickness direction. By introducing a stochastic model for quantitative description of heterogeneous elastic properties in the plate, the effect of material heterogeneity on Lamb modes may be investigated from a stochastic point of view. To the our best knowledge, this study is the first to investigate Lamb-type waves in a probabilistic framework. Different plate thicknesses are considered and associated dispersion curves are computed. A sensitivity study is performed, highlighting effect of the uncertainty of elasticity properties on the fluctuation of Lamb modes via phase velocities, energy velocities and modes shapes. Next, we discuss the relevance of introducing random media to identify branches associated with experimental dispersion curves.