This paper mainly analyzes the wave dispersion relations and associated modal pattens in the inclusion-reinforced composite plates including the effect of inclusion shapes, inclusion contents, inclusion elastic constants, and plate thickness. The shape of inclusion is modeled as spheroid that enables the composite reinforcement geometrical configurations ranging from sphere to short and continuous fiber. Using the Mori-Tanaka mean-field theory, the effective elastic moduli which are able to elucidate the effect of inclusion’s shape, stiffness, and volume fraction on the composite’s anisotropic elastic behavior can be predicted explicitly. Then, the dispersion relations and the modal patterns of Lamb waves determined from the effective elastic moduli can be obtained by using the dynamic stiffness matrix method. Numerical simulations have been given for the various inclusion types and the resulting dispersions in various wave types on the composite plate. The types (symmetric or antisymmetric) of Lamb waves in an isotropic plate can be classified according to the wave motions about the midplane of the plate. For an orthotropic composite plate, it can also be classified as either symmetric or antisymmetric waves by analyzing the dispersion curves and inspecting the calculated modal patterns. It is also found that the inclusion contents, aspect ratios and plate thickness affect propagation velocities, higher-order mode cutoff frequencies, and modal patterns.
Equivalent-inclusion approach for estimating the elastic moduli of matrix composites with non-circular inclusions