Study of laser-generated interfacial waves and their interaction with a defect at solid-fluid interface

The analysis of the pulsed laser generation of interfacial waves propagating along a plane solid-fluid interface and their interaction with a defect (notch) on the interface are presented. The solid-fluid interface motion due to laser-generated interfacial waves including leaky Rayleigh and Scholte wave is simulated by finite element method for two configurations, one is “hard solid-fluid” interface, like steel-water, the other one is “soft solid-fluid” interface, like Plexiglas-water. And then their interaction with a notch-like defect in the interface has also been studied. Two series defects are introduced into the interface. One is with same width but different depth, and the other one with the same depth but different width. For hard and soft solid-fluid configurations, leaky Rayleigh and Scholte wave is severely affected by the notch, respectively. In contrast, Scholte and leaky Rayleigh wave experiences almost no influence for hard and soft solid-fluid interface. The results may lead to an application for defect identification and nondestructive materials characterization.