A Model for Stress Wave Propagation in Composite Materials

A theoretical model is developed to describe stress wave propaga tion in plate laminate composites. The dispersive effects in the com posite are accounted for by direct analogy with a viscosity effect in the model. The model gives excellent predictions of steady and tran sient wave shapes and velocities, and of the attenuation of short stress pulses. It averages out only the fine structure which results from in dividual reverberations between the plates of the composite. The success of the theoretical model for plate laminate composites should provide a basis for good semi-empirical modeling of the stress wave propagation characteristics of a wide variety of composite materials.