HARMONIC WAVE PROPAGATION IN NONHOMOGENEOUS LAYERED COMPOSITES.

A new method for analyzing plane wave propagation in a periodically layered, elastic, nonhomogeneous composite body is proposed. The nonhomogeneity considered is a variation of the material properties within each composite layer. Results from probability theory are used to arrive at the two fundamental solutions of the governing second order ordinary differential equations. Floquet's wave theory is combined with a Wronskian formula to yield the dispersion relationship for this nonhomogeneous composite. Numerical results show that the presence of material nonhomogeneity affects the range of frequencies which can pass through the composite unattenuated.