Leaky Rayleigh waves propagating around the corner of a thick solid plate: Finite element analysis

Abstract

Finite element simulations reveal the experimentally indicated fact [Declercq et al, J. Appl. Phys. 96(10), 5836–5840 (2004)] that leaky Rayleigh waves propagating along the horizontal surface of a thick fluid‐loaded solid plate are transmitted around the corner of the solid plate. The experiments indicate that leaky Rayleigh waves are generated around the corner of the plate, but the experimental evidence is not fully conclusive whether the effect is caused merely by incident Rayleigh waves on the upper surface or by scattering effects when the incident beam interacts with the corner. The current study first investigates the reported experiments by means of the finite element method. Then the model is applied to study leaky Rayleigh waves separately from the incident and reflected bounded beams. It is shown that the Rayleigh waves themselves are the physical origin of the transmission of Rayleigh waves and not the scattering effects caused by the incident bounded beam interacting with the edge of the plate.