Reflection and transmission of elastic waves by a structurally chiral arrangement of identical uniaxial layers

Layered composites are constructed by stacking identical uniaxial plates, their consecutive symmetric axes describing either a right- or a left-handed spiral. A matrix representation method is used for solving the reflection and transmission characteristics of such layered composites. The field equations governing the harmonic motions of the layered composite are written as a first-order matrix ordinary differential equation, where the field variables form a 6-vector consisting of the displacement and traction components. Numerical results of the plane wave reflection and transmission characteristics for chiral arrangements are compared with those for a non-chiral arrangement. It is observed that the co-polarized characteristics are unaffected by the structural chirality, while the cross-polarized reflected and transmitted fields are greatly influenced by it.