Reflection of plate waves at the fixed edge of a composite plate

An approximate method based on the wave-function expansion procedure has been used to solve the problem of reflection of time harmonic plane strain waves normally incident upon the fixed edge of a semi-infinite, uniaxially fiber-reinforced, composite plate of linearly elastic materials. Both symmetric and antisymmetric incident waves have been considered. The dispersion relation of the infinite plate has been solved through an approximate technique to obtain wave functions. The amplitudes of reflected waves have been determined by satisfying the fixed edge condition through the application of a variational principle. It is shown that the results agree well with known solutions for homogeneous isotropic plates. Numerical results are presented for a graphite/epoxy composite plate. The accuracy of the results is demonstrated through satisfaction of the principle of energy conservation and the reciprocity relations. The influence of fiber-direction elastic stiffness on reflection coefficients has also been studied