ON ACOUSTIC INTERACTION BETWEEN 2 THIN ELASTIC PLATES THROUGH AN ANGULAR WELDED JOINT

Contact conditions are deduced for a pair of thin plates in welded con tact at an angle and under fluid loading. The conditions take into acc ount the interaction between the plates through not only flexural but also longitudinal motion, and include the possibility of an applied fo rce and moment acting at the junction. The two-dimensional conditions are shown to be consistent with the principle of acoustic reciprocity for the configuration, and they guarantee unique solutions if certain constraints are satisfied by the plate longitudinal impedances. The co nditions also have implications for the junction admittance matrix. Si mple examples are presented of the application of the contact conditio ns to acoustic interaction with plate configurations that are almost f lat. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited