In this paper, a 2D wavelet-based spectral finite element (WSFE) is developed for a anisotropic laminated composite plate to study wave propagation. Spectral element model captures the exact inertial distribution as the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are solved exactly in the transformed frequency-wave-number domain. Thus, the method results in large computational savings compared to conventional finite element (FE) modeling, particularly for wave propagation analysis. In this approach, first, Daubechies scaling function approximation is used in both time and one spatial dimensions to reduce the coupled PDEs to a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Similar to the conventional fast Fourier transform (FFT) based spectral finite element (FSFE), the frequency-dependent wave characteristics can also be extracted directly from the present formulation. However, most importantly, the use of localized basis functions in the present 2D WSFE method circumvents several limitations of the corresponding 2D FSFE technique. Here, the formulated element is used to study wave propagation in laminated composite plates with different ply orientations, both in time and frequency domains.
