M. Kim
Y. F. Hwang
Carderock Div., Naval Surface Warfare Ctr., Bethesda, MD 20084-5000
An exact mathematical formalism was developed to calculate the acoustic response of a fluid-loaded, multilayer, sandwich plate subjected to a point-harmonic excitation. The plate can be fluid loaded on each side with arbitrary acoustic media. The solution was verified with asymptotic solution of a fluid-loaded thin steel plate. Numerical examples are presented for the acoustic radiation into water from various plate configurations subjected to a point force acting on its dry (air) side. The plate configurations considered are: (1) a two-layer elastic/viscoelastic plate, (2) a three-layer symmetric elastic/viscoelastic/elastic sandwich plate, and (3) a three-layer nonsymmetric elastic/viscoelastic/elastic sandwich plate with the viscoelastic layer given a range of different material properties (elastic constants, damping) and thicknesses. To elucidate the radiation mechanisms, the behavior of the modes of wave propagation in the plate is discussed. [Work supported by ONR.]