Elastic wave propagation in bars of arbitrary cross section: a generalized Fourier expansion collocation method

The problem of elastic wave propagation in an infinite bar of arbitrary cross section is studied via a generalized version of the Fourier expansion collocation method. In the current formulation, the exact three dimensional solution to Navier's equation in cylindrical coordinates is used to obtain the boundary traction vector as a periodic, piecewise continuous/differentiable function of the angular coordinate. Traction free conditions are then met by setting the Fourier coefficients of the boundary traction vector to zero without approximating the bounding surface by multi-sided polygons as in the method presented by Nagaya. The method is derived for a general cross section with no axial planes of symmetry. Using the general formulation it is shown that the symmetric and asymmetric modes decouple for cross sections having one axial plane of symmetry. An efficient algorithm for computing dispersion curves based on the current method is presented and used to obtain the fundamental longitudinal and flexural wave speeds for a bar of elliptical cross section. The results are compared to those obtained by previous researchers using exact and approximate treatments.