Lamb wave propagation in elastic waveguides with variable thickness

Abstract

The problem of Lamb wave propagation in waveguides with varying height is treated by a multimodal approach. The technique is based on a rearrangement of the equations of elasticity that provides a new system of coupled mode equations preserving energy conservation. These coupled mode equations avoid the usual problem at the cut-offs with zero wavenumber. Thereafter, we define an impedance matrix that is governed by a Riccati equation yielding a stable numerical computation of the solution. Incidentally, the versatility of the multimodal method is exemplified by treating analytically the case of slowly varying guide and by showing how to get easily the Green tensor in any geometry. The method is applied for a waveguide whose height is described by a Gaussian function and the energy conservation in verified numerically. We determine the Green tensor in this geometry.