Transient Wave Propagation in Multilayered Viscoelastic Media: Theory, Numerical Computation, and Validation

Abstract

This paper extends the classical problem of transient wave propagation in multilayered solids to transient wave propagation in multilayered viscoelastic solids. Laplace and Hankel transforms and the transfer-matrix approach are used in the formulation together with the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle in linear viscoelasticity. The derived formula provides a theoretical basis to allow effective and efficient numerical algorithms to be developed. MATLAB is used to develop a computer program DYNALAYERT that implements the theory developed. The numerical results are compared with the existing data available in literature and those obtained from finite element analysis using ANSYS. Excellent agreement has been observed from comprehensive comparisons, which verifies the validity of the theory, algorithm, and computer program developed in this study. The conclusion and findings of this study may result in a number of engineering applications, such as nondestructive evaluation of highway and airport pavements, petroleum exploration, countermine technology, geophysical inversion, structural health monitoring, and vehicle weigh-in-motion systems.