High-frequency scattering of elastic waves from cylindrical cavities

The scattering of time-harmonic plane longitudinal elastic waves by smooth convex cylindrical cavities is investigated. The exact solution for a circle is evaluated for wavelengths of the same order as the radius, and the geometrical and physical elastodynamics approximations are shown to be inadequate. The application of Watson's transformation exhibits the various diffraction effects and the relative importance of each is assessed. Excellent approximations for the scattered far-field are obtained with a hybrid method, in which an approximation for the surface field is constructed from the creeping wave contributions and this is then used in an integral representation. A generalization, based on the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction, of the hybrid method to cavities of smooth convex cross-section is presented and applied to the specific case of an ellipse. The predictions of the hybrid method compare well with numerical results obtained by an eigenfunction expansion method.