STRIP ELEMENT METHOD TO ANALYZE WAVE SCATTERING BY CRACKS IN ANISOTROPIC LAMINATED PLATES

The strip element method (SEM) has been extended to investigate wave s cattering by cracks in anisotropic laminated plates. The cracked plate s are divided into domains in which the extended SEM is applied For ea ch domain a set of SEM equations is obtained which gives a relationshi p between the traction and displacement vectors on the vertical bounda ries. These equations are solved by using the conditions at the and ju nctures of the domains. To obtain the time domain response a Fourier t ransform technique is used, and an exponential window method is introd uced to avoid singularities in the Fourier integration, For composite plates with horizontal and vertical cracks, scattered wave fields in b oth the time and frequency domains are computed, and discussed in comp arison with results for uncracked plates. A technique for determining the length of a crack in a plate is also presented. It is shown that t he SEM is an efficient technique for the calculation of elastodynamic fields in cracked anisotropic laminated plates.