Scattering of Rayleigh-Lamb waves by a surface breaking crack in an elastic plate

This work studies the problem of scattering of Rayleigh-Lamb waves by a thin surface-breaking crack. The problem is solved by the projection method, which exploits some orthogonality relations deduced from the reciprocal theorem. Numerical results obtained by the projection method are compared with the results obtained using a finite element method reported by other authors for the case of a flat crack, finding good agreement. From the numerical results it is observed that, as the wave number of the incident wave, So for instance, is smaller, the reflected and transmitted energy corresponding to the converted mode, A(0) in this case, are almost equal to each other. An explanation for this result is given, based on the asymptotic nature of the modes S-0 and A(0) for small wave numbers. (c) 2006 Acoustical Society of America.