Calculating the Lamb wave modes in an aluminum sheet bonded to a composite layer with FEM and experiment

This research develops a Lamb wave technique to determine the dispersion curves of a two layered bonded component: an aluminum sheet attached to a composite layer by means of a cohesive. A commercial finite element code (ABAQUS Explicit) is used to determine the dispersion curves of the Aluminum-cohesive-composite multilayer component. The finite element model includes three plain strain layers that the middle one is cohesive. Then a lamb wave is propagated in the model and some output signals are received. The dispersion curves are obtained by using 2D Fourier transformation of finite element model output signals. In addition، to produce various modes، experiments are carried out on a composite-aluminum assembly using two 2 MHz variable angle transducers. Comparison of modes obtained from finite element method and experiments shows that group velocities are almost identical. Hence، good agreement between finite element method results and experimental results indicates that finite element is reasonably accurate for determination of dispersion curves.