Lamb wave attenuation in a rough plate. I. Analytical and experimental results in an anisotropic plate

The characterization of bounded roughened surfaces before applying adhesive joint, in order to detect poor cohesive and adhesive properties, remains difficult. Earlier studies based on analysis of surface wave (Rayleigh waves or Scholte waves) are not really adapted to the characterization of such surfaces. Guided acoustic waves, i.e., Lamb waves, turn out to be the best adapted kind of waves to characterize this roughness when plates are bounded together. It is the aim of this paper to provide analytical and experimental approaches to analyze the behavior of Lamb waves propagating inside plates with a rough surface (small perturbations). First, experimental results of the attenuation effects are given on roughened glass plates. Second, the attenuation factor of the Lamb wave in an anisotropic rough solid plate is calculated through a complex analytical model of the dispersion equation which accounts for the effect of the power spectrum density of the rough profile (including the effect of the statistical roughness parameters