Effect of stress waves on laminated composite plates

Abstract Several types of waves in a layered composite material were examined. In order to obtain explicit approximate solutions, a perturbation method was used. This approach views the nonhomogeneous layering as a perturbation on a homogeneous but anisotropic solid. For propagation normal to the direction of layering, it was necessary to include the second-order perturbation terms to get qualitative agreement. Also considered were waves which travel parallel to the laminae. The material in these waves follows an elliptical path. The orientation of which depends on the position in the material. All these waves are also examined numerically, and there is excellent agreement between the perturbation expansions and the numerical results.