Guided waves in multilayered plates: An improved orthogonal polynomial approach

Conventional orthogonal polynomial approach can solve the multilayered plate only when the material properties of two adjacent layers do not change significantly. This paper developed an improved orthogonal polynomial approach to solve wave propagation in multilayered plates with very dissimilar material properties. Through numerical comparisons among the exact solution, the results from the conventional polynomial approach and from the improved polynomial approach, the validity of the improved polynomial approach is illustrated. Finally, it is shown that the conventional polynomial approach can not yield correct continuous normal stress profiles. The improved orthogonal polynomial approach has overcome this drawback.