Standing waves in an elastic layer loaded with a finite mass

Standing shear waves in a plane-parallel rubberlike layer fixed without slippage between two rigid plates with finite masses are investigated. The lower plate, which underlies the layer, oscillates in the direction parallel to its surface under an external harmonic force, whereas the upper plate freely overlies the layer. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that such a system exhibits resonances at frequencies the values of which depend on the mass of the free plate and the shear modulus of the layer. The shapes of the resonance curves are calculated and measured for different values of parameters of the layer and different masses of the upper plate. From the measured resonance curves, it is possible to determine the dynamic shear modulus and the shear viscosity of the rubberlike material.