Wave propagation and dynamic analysis of smoothly graded heterogeneous continua using graded finite elements (Q2382462)

The authors study dynamic behavior of smoothly graded heterogeneous materials using the finite element method. The scheme uses the same shape functions to interpolate the displacement, material properties and geometry of the material. The scheme is validated for three cases. The first example is that of cantilever beam in which analytic solution of a homogeneous problem is used as a reference. A beam with material properties varying in one direction is considered in this regard as a graded beam. A comparison of the finite element method with Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is presented. In the second example, transient wave propagation along fixed-free bar is considered for bi-material and tri-layered bar. Finally, in the third example, an impact loading problem dealing with stress evolution due to grading profile of the beam is considered as a three-point bending problem. The results in all three cases are compared with analytic or experimental results available in the literature.