Granular layers on vibrating plates: Effective bending stiffness and particle-size effects

Wonmo Kang, Joseph A. Turner, Florin Bobaru, Liyong Yang, Kitti Rattanadit

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Acoustic methods of land mine detection rely on the vibrations of the top plate of the mine in response to sound. For granular soil (e.g., sand), the particle size is expected to influence the mine response. This hypothesis is studied experimentally using a plate loaded with dry sand of various sizes from hundreds of microns to a few millimeters. For low values of sand mass, the plate resonance decreases with added mass and eventually reaches a minimum without particle size dependence. After the minimum, a frequency increase is observed with additional mass that includes a particle-size effect. Analytical nondissipative continuum models for granular media capture the observed particle-size dependence qualitatively but not quantitatively. In addition, a continuum-based finite element model (FEM) of a two-layer plate is used, with the sand layer replaced by an equivalent elastic layer for evaluation of the effective properties of the layer. Given a thickness of sand layer and corresponding experimental resonance, an inverse FEM problem is solved iteratively to give the effective Young's modulus and bending stiffness that matches the experimental frequency. It is shown that a continuum elastic model must employ a thickness-dependent elastic modulus in order to match experimental values.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)888-896
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume121
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Acoustics and Ultrasonics

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