Wave scattering in coupled composite plates

Establishing the wave propagation characteristics at plate junctions is of great importance in the prediction of vibrational energy transmission across complex structures. A hybrid approach combining the finite element (FE) and the wave finite element (WFE) method at interconnects between flat, isotropic plates has recently been established for calculating reflection and transmission coefficients. The method is based on modelling joints such as an L-shaped joint with FE with boundary conditions given by the solutions of the WFE method for the infinite plate. We extend this method to study two dimensional anisotropic plates. Numerical results for the bending wave transmission across coplanar and L-shaped junctions are presented. Comparisons of numerically predicted scattering coefficients with analytical solutions for selected structures are used to validate the model. The results obtained are important for Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) and Dynamical Energy Analysis (DEA) based calculations of wave energy distribution of the full structure.