Lamb Wave Propagation in Anisotropic Laminates

The wave propagation in arbitrary anisotropic laminates is investigated on the basis of an exact theory. The dispersion relations of Lamb waves are determined for graphite/epoxy symmetric angle-ply laminates and hybrid composite ones which consist of carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy layers. The dispersion and anisotropy of phase velocities for fundamental modes are discussed in detail. The energy distributions in the thickness direction of laminates are calculated for each kind of Lamb wave. A hybrid composite laminate is found to have better capability in absorbing impact energy by analyzing the strain energy distribution during the wave propagation. The results of the strain energy distribution are useful in determining the arrangement and the fiber orientation of the layers of hybrid composite laminates.