Stiffness Transfer Matrix Method (STMM) for Stable Dispersion Curves Solution in Anisotropic Composites

This paper discusses combined transfer matrix method (TMM) with stiffness matrix method (SMM) for obtaining a stable solution for dispersion curves of Lamb wave propagation in non-isotropic layers. TMM developed by Thomson and Haskell experiences numerical deficiency at high frequency thickness simulations. SMM was proposed by different researchers to solve the instability issue of TMM. This study shows that stable SMM is good at high frequencies, and TMM needs to be combined with SMM to obtain stable and robust behavior over the frequency range. Numerical simulations of dispersion curves are presented for wave propagation in orthotropic unidirectional fiber composites and cross ply composites. The paper ends with conclusions and future work.