Analysis and optimal design of layered structures subjected to impulsive loading

The attenuation of elastic stress waves propagating through layered structures situated between free and fixed surfaces is investigated. A stress transfer function, which relates the stress response at the fixed support to the applied stress pulse, is derived for several specific layered structures. An analysis of these responses indicate that when an incident stress pulse passes through a layered structure, a reduced stress amplitude and elongated pulse duration could be obtained with proper selection of materials and layer dimensions. Consequently, a design procedure is proposed to obtain the optimal layered structure, and several specific cases of layered structures are investigated.