Effect of uniaxial stress on the propagation of higher-order Lamb wave modes

On the basis of the non-linear theory of elasticity and the invariant based formulation developed by Ogden, we analyse the effect of homogeneous stress on the propagation of Lamb waves. Using the theory of incremental deformations superimposed on large deformations, we derive the equations governing the propagation of small amplitude waves in a pre-stressed plate. By enforcing traction-free boundary conditions at the surfaces of the plate, we further obtain the characteristic equations for symmetric and anti-symmetric Lamb wave modes and investigate the effect of stress on the phase velocity, i.e. the acoustoelastic effect. A comparison with experimental data exhibits a better correlation than previously published results. The outcomes of this study can be utilised in the development of new techniques for the measurement of applied stresses based on the acoustoelastic effect. In particular, a strong sensitivity of the phase velocity to the applied stress near the cut-off frequencies of higher-order Lamb wave modes is a very promising option, which seems to have been overlooked in previous studies.