Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Advances in Acoustics and Vibration

Volume 2013, Article ID 903934, 6 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/903934

Research Article
Anomalous Dispersion of the 1 Lamb Mode

Faiz Ahmad and Takasar Hussain

Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics, National University of Sciences and Technology, H-12 Campus,
Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Correspondence should be addressed to Takasar Hussain; htakasar@yahoo.com

Received 30 April 2013; Revised 1 July 2013; Accepted 16 July 2013

Academic Editor: Abdelkrim Khelif

Copyright 2013 F. Ahmad and T. Hussain. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

The 1 mode of the Lamb spectrum of an isotropic plate exhibits negative group velocity in a narrow frequency domain. This
anomalous behavior is explained analytically by examining the slope of each mode first in its initial state and then near its turning
points.

1. Introduction The most striking feature in Figure 1 is the shape of the 1

mode which has a turning point at = 2.686, and the phase
The dispersion relation for symmetric Lamb modes propa- velocity becomes double valued for in [2.686, 2.873]. This
gating in an infinite isotropic plate of thickness 2 is given by phenomenon of negative group velocity is of great technical
the well known Rayleigh-Lamb equation [1]: significance and has been observed in a large number of
experiments [28].
tan () 42
= 2
, (1) The afore mentioned feature of 1 mode was first noticed
tan () (2 2 ) by Tolstoy and Usdin [9] in 1957. In all isotropic materials
with = 2 (] = 1/3), only the 1 mode has this anomalous
where behavior and other modes behave normally. We will call it
the 1 anomaly. An explanation of this peculiar shape of mode
2 1 has posed a challenge since its discovery in 1957.
= 2 ,
2 For the special case of a material with ] = 1/3 that is
(2) = 2 , each of the modes 3+1 , = 0, 1, 2, 3, . . ., exhibits
2 anomalous behavior [10]. Anomalous pairs of modes may
= 2 2 .
also occur for certain special values of the Poisson ratio. We
will call it the pair anomaly.
In (1), and , respectively, denote the phase speeds of Although (1) governs the behavior of all modes, anoma-
the transverse and longitudinal bulk waves in the material. lous or otherwise, no simple theory seems to exist which
Also, and , respectively, denote the frequency and the wave should provide a satisfactory explanation of why certain
number of the mode. The phase velocity, , of a mode is given modes in the spectrum should possess a bulge while others
by proceed in a normal manner. However, certain physical
explanations of this phenomenon exist. In 1983, Whitaker
= . (3) and Haus [11] noted the fact that propagation of waves with

dispersion of this sort has been experimentally verified [2]
If is plotted as a function of the frequency, the spectrum but the reason for their appearance is not well understood.
appears as in Figure 1, which depicts the spectrum for a steel They used the coupled mode theory to argue that, when the
plate with = 3.24 km/s and = 5.95 km/s. fundamental mode and the first harmonic mode are
2 Advances in Acoustics and Vibration

40 With respect to the variables and , (1) becomes

35
30 (, )
25
2 2
= (2 2) sin (2 1 ) cos ( 2 1 )
c/cT

20
15

10 (6)
5 2 2
+ 42 1 2 1 sin ( 2 1 )
0
2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8
kT h

cos (2 1 ) = 0.
Figure 1: Symmetric Lamb modes on a steel plate ( = 1.83)
showing phase velocity as a function of normalized frequency.
In this section, we will consider = 2. We will calculate
the derivative / at two positions of the spectrum. We
write

nearly degenerate at cutoff, a coupling effect can occur at the

, = ,
boundaries. Uberall et al. [12] hypothesize that one observes = ,=
a repulsion phenomenon between neighboring dispersion (7)
curves similar to that encountered in atomic physics for
, = ,
quasidegenerate energy levels of atoms when combining into = ,=
molecules. Prada et al. [3] express the same view in the
words, this phenomenon leads to a strong repulsion between where the subscript refers to the mode under consideration.
the dispersion curves of the neighbouring modes. For 2/3 < < 3.39 (1 < ] < 0.452), we will show that
It is clear that all of these authors focused on the pair , < 0 for all modes. On the other hand, 1, > 0 for the 1
anomaly only because, in the 1 anomaly, the 1 mode mode while , < 0 for all other modes. Since the derivative
remains distinct and it does not coincide with any other for the 1 mode changes from positive to negative, it must
mode at cutoff. Mode repulsion cannot explain 1 anomaly. exhibit a bulge before = . No other mode undergoes a
To the best of our knowledge, the 1 anomaly still remains reversal of the slope; hence, all other modes continue their
an unsolved mystery. Recently Hussain and Ahmad [13] downward journey until they asymptotically approach the
considered ZGV points in the spectrum of Lamb modes in line = 1.
compressible orthotropic plate. It was found that, in addition In Appendix A, we give expressions for / and /.
to modes with a single ZGV point, a large number of modes The derivative / is found as
exist with multiple such points.
/
In this paper we will examine Rayleigh-Lamb spectrum = . (8)
for the symmetric modes of an isotropic material. We will /
analyze (1) and derive mathematical expressions which will
explain both types of anomalies. When = , (6) becomes

2 1
sin ( ) = 0. (9)
2. The Mode Spectrum
Let and , respectively, denote the wave number and phase Therefore,
speed of the mode. Define the dimensionless speed / by
and the dimensionless frequency / by .
= . (10)
Then 2 1

Equation (10) shows that the line = intersects the

modes at infinitely many points. At = and = , partial
2 derivatives (A.1) become
= 2
2 2
(2 2) 2 1
(4)
/ = ,
= 2 1 = 2 1 = 2 1, = ,=
/
2
(11)
2 (2 2) 2 1
=

1. (5) =[ +4 ] .

= ,= 1
2 2 2
2 [ ]
Advances in Acoustics and Vibration 3

Hence, Table 1: Approximate and exact values of when = 20 for the

first five modes.
3/2 2
(2 1) (2 2) Modes Approximate Exact value at = 20
, = 2
. (12)
[(2 2) + 4 (2 1)] 1 2.875 2.856
2 3.142 3.180
It is clear that , < 0 for all modes. Also |, | becomes 3 6.283 6.289
progressively smaller as increases and , 0 as 4 8.624 8.650
. This means that, for = , there is a plateau region and 5 9.425 9.449
this plateau is flatter for higher modes.
Next, we find , . For , the expressions for /
and / are given by For 2/3 < < 2 and large , approximate values of
from (16) for the first few modes are /2, , 3/2, 2, and
1
4 [cos cos sin sin ] (13) 5/2. For the steel plate, these values are compared in Table 1
with the exact values found from (6) when = 20.
3 We have seen previously that 1, > 0 for the 1 mode.
cos cos + 4 cos sin
Now for the 2 mode 2 and from (18) we get
(14)
8
+ cos sin sin sin . 3
2, . (20)
(8/) tan (/)
Thus,
Here, = 1.83 and tan(/) < 0; thus 2, < 0. In
a similar fashion by successively using (17) and (18), we can
show that , < 0 for all 2.
4 (4 /) tan tan (/) From the previous, we conclude that for steel, the 1 is the
. only mode which reverses its slope while going from large
+ 43 tan + (8/) tan (/) tan tan (/) values of to = . The previous analysis applies to all
(15) materials with < 2.
If > 2, the 1 mode occurs, when 1 , and from (18),
For , (6) gives
the 1 mode will have positive slope as long as
4 tan (/)
2 . (16)

8
tan < 0, (21)
tan
Also, from (15) and (16), we have or 2 < < 3.39 which corresponds to 1/3 < ] < 0.452.
3 5 2 Thus, we have established that the 1 mode will be
+ ( /4) tan
, , (17) anomalous for all materials falling in the range 2/3 < <
+ 2 tan (2 + (2 /4) tan ) 3.39. Since the slope of 1 becomes negative for all when
> 3.39, the mode will lose its anomalous character beyond
or equivalently = 3.39 which corresponds to ] = 0.452.
3 + (5 /4) tan2
, . (18) 3. The Exceptional Case = 2
(4/) tan ( /) (2 + (2 /4) tan )
The case = 2 merits special treatment. The spectrum of
We have replaced by in (17) and (18), since, for a fixed symmetric modes appears as in Figure 2.
, (16) yields infinitely many roots , = 1, 2, 3 . . .. The pairs 1 -2 , 4 -5 , 7 -8 . . . appear to merge for large
To fix ideas, we consider the case of a steel plate for which and then bifurcate as they descend to lower values of
= 1.83. The general case follows on similar lines. the phase speed. On the other hand, 3 , 6 , 9 , . . . appear to
From (16), we see that, for the 1 mode, 1 / should be behave normally.
slightly less than /2, so that 1 / is in the first quadrant and This phenomenon was first reported by Mindlin [14].
the corresponding 1 is in the second quadrant to yield a large Each of the modes 1 , 4 , 7 , . . . shows anomalous dispersion.
positive 2 . With = 2, (6) becomes, for 1,
Hence, for the mode 1 , we have

4 cos sin + 2 sin cos = 0, (22)
1, 2 2
3 + (5 /4) tan2 (/2) which is satisfied for = 2, = 1, 2, 3 . . .. It is shown in
. Appendix B that a more accurate solution of (6) is
(/2) + 2 tan (/2) (2 + (2 /4) (/2) tan (/2))
(19) 1
= (2 + ). (23)
For = 1.83 and for large , 1, > 0. 2
4 Advances in Acoustics and Vibration

25 4. Conclusion
20 We have explained analytically the anomalous behavior of
Lamb modes for an isotropic material by looking at the slope
15 of each mode for large as well as small . For small , slope is
c/cT

found at = . This simple technique explains, in an analytic

10 manner, theoretical results given by several authors about the
anomalous dispersion of the 1 mode.
5

0 Appendices
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
kT h
A. The Partial Derivatives
Figure 2: Symmetric Lamb modes on a nickel plate ( = 2).
Expressions for the partial derivatives are as follows:

In addition to (23), (16) has roots given by

1 tan (/2) 1
2 = (1 tan2 ) . (24) 2 1
2 tan 2 2 2
= ((2 2) 2 1 cos

Ignoring 1 in comparison with 2 , we get
2 /2 1
tan2 2 , (25) 1
2 cos ) ()

or
1 2 1
cot2 . (26) 2
2 2 + (4 ( 1) 2 1 cos
2
Let
(2 + 1) 2 /2 1 1
= + . (27) cos ) ()
2 2
Equation (26) becomes
2
2 2 1

2 1
cot ( + ) 2 , ((2 2) 2 1 sin
2
(28)

or
2 /2 1 1
1 sin ) ()
tan2 , (29)
2

which leads to 2 1
2
(4 (2 1) 1 sin
1 2
. (30)

Thus, for large , 1 = 2, 2 = + 2, 4 = 3 2, 2 /2 1 1

5 = 3 + 2, and so forth. sin ) () ,

Since 0 as , the modes 1 , 2 ; 4 , 5 ;
7 , 8 ; . . . appear to coalesce for large . Now, with = 2, (18)
gives 1, > 0, 4, > 0, and 7, > 0 while the slopes for
all other modes are negative. This argument establishes the
anomalous dispersion of the modes 3+1 , = 0, 1, 2, 3 . . . As
3 , 6 , 9 , . . . occur slightly above 2, 4, 6, . . ., (17) gives a 2 2 1
negative value for the slope of each of these modes. Hence, = (2 2) ( )
2 1 2
these modes behave in a normal manner.
Advances in Acoustics and Vibration 5

2 1 2 /2 1 Let 2+( /2 ) and ignore the terms of order 1/4

cos cos or higher. Then,

2 1
+ 42 12 /2 1 cos ( ) 1,

2 /2 1
( )
2 2 /4 1
2 2 /2 1 cos ( ) 1,

2 1 2 /2 1
cos cos 2 1
sin ( ) sin ,
2 2
2 1 2 /2 1
+ 4 (2 2) sin cos
2 /4 1 2 2
sin ( ) sin 2
2 .

2 1
+ (42 1 cos (B.1)

Putting these expressions in (6), we have
2 /2 1 1

sin ) (2 2 /2 1) 4 2 ( 2) = 0, (B.2)
2
or
2 1
+ (42 /2 1 cos (2 2) = 2 4, (B.3)

or

2 /2 1 1 2 4
sin ) ( 2 1) = , (B.4)
2 2

for large .
This result shows that the modes 3 , = 1, 2, 3, . . .,
2 1 intersect the line = 0 , for large 0 , at points slightly to
42 12 /2 1 ( )
2 1 2 the right of = 2, = 1, 2, 3, . . ..

Acknowledgment
2 1 2 /2 1
sin sin Faiz Ahmad is grateful to the Higher Education Commission

of Pakistan for financial support.

2 2 /2 1
(2 2) ( ) References
2 2 /2 1 2
[1] J. D. Achenbach, Wave Propagation in Elastic Solids, chapter 6,
North-Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1980.
2 1 2 /2 1 [2] A. H. Meitzler, Backward wave tranmission stress pulses in
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America, vol. 38, pp. 835842, 1965.
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B. The Mode 3 for = 2 2008.
[4] K. Nishimiya, K. Mizutani, N. Wakatsuki, and K. Yamamoto,
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1/2 1/2 . Acoustics 08 Paris, pp. 36133618.
6 Advances in Acoustics and Vibration

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