PLANE-STRAIN-WAVE SCATTERING BY CRACKS IN LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES

A hybrid method is presented for analyzing scattering of time-harmonic plane strain waves by cracks in an infinite laminated composite plate. The modeling is achieved by dividing the domain into two regions: an interior region that consists of the cracks and a finite region of the plate around the cracks; and an unbounded exterior region. The hybrid method combines a finite element formulation in the interior region with a wave-function expansion representation in the exterior region. The method is illustrated through solving the problem of scattering by a symmetric normal-edge crack. Numerical results for the reflection coefficients are presented for an isotropic plate, a homogeneous fiber-reinforced plate, and a laminated fiber-reinforced plate. The validity and accuracy of the results are checked by satisfaction of the reciprocity relations and the principle of energy conservation. The technique presented can be used to characterize cracks in laminated composite plates.