Dispersive Rayleigh-Wave Propagation in Microstructured Solids Characterized by Dipolar Gradient Elasticity

It is well known that the classical theory of elasticity predicts Rayleigh-wave motions, which are not dispersive at any frequency. Of course, at high frequencies, this is a result that contradicts experimental data and also does not agree with results of the discrete particle theory (atomic-lattice approach). To remedy this shortcoming, the Mindlin–Green–Rivlin theory of dipolar gradient elasticity is employed here to analyze waves of the Rayleigh type propagating along the surface of a half-space. The analysis shows that these waves are indeed dispersive at high frequencies, a result that can be useful in applications of high-frequency surface waves, where the wavelength is often on the micron order. Provided that certain relations hold between the various microstructure parameters entering the theory employed here, the dispersion curves of these waves have the same form as that given by previous analyses based on the atomic-lattice theory. In this way, the present analysis gives also means to obtain estimates for microstructure parameters of the gradient theory.