General formalism for plane guided waves in transversely inhomogeneous anisotropic plates

The sextic approach to plane waves in infinite (visco)elastic plates of arbitrary anisotropy and transverse inhomogeneity is outlined. A particular thrust is set on continuous inhomogeneity when the propagator is defined by the Peano expansion. Despite underlying explicit intricacy, the basic framework of the pursued formalism is little affected by a through-plate variation of material. To make it evident, the principal algebraic symmetry of the propagator for unattenuated waves and the ensuing arrangement of the impedance as a Hermitian matrix with specific traits are inferred directly from energy considerations. Staying the same as for homogeneous plates, those features yield useful developments in the broader context of inhomogeneity. The formalism may be expressed in either pair picked among velocity, frequency and wavenumber, but different choices of a dispersion variable are shown to entail analytical dissimilarities. In addition, the impact of the profile symmetry and of the horizontal plane of crystallographic symmetry is examined. The surface-impedance method and some other aspects of the numerical treatment are discussed.