Propagation of SH waves in a piezoelectric/piezomagnetic plate: Effects of interfacial imperfection couplings and the related physical mechanisms

•SH-wave is investigated in a multiferroic plate with coupled interfacial imperfections.•SH-wave is affected by both interfacial imperfections and their inter-couplings.•Physical mechanisms of the effects are explained via energy transformations.

The problem of dispersive SH wave in a piezoelectric/piezomagnetic plate that contains an imperfect interface is considered in the present work. An imperfection coupling model is adopted to describe the magnetic, electric and mechanical imperfections on the interface. A transcendental dispersion equation is derived and numerically solved to get the phase velocity. The validity of the numerical procedure is verified in a degenerated case. The effects of the coupled interfacial imperfections on the dispersion behavior of SH waves are discussed in detail and the related underlying physical mechanisms are explained.