Effects of a Single Open Joint on Energy Transmission Coefficients of Stress Waves with Different Waveforms

Abstract

Open joints have significantly different effects on stress wave propagation across them as compared to closed and filled joints. In the present study, a theoretical model is developed based on the analysis of interaction process between stress waves and a single open joint. The analytical solutions to the energy transmission coefficient are mathematically derived for stress waves across an open joint. Parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effects of various parameters on the energy transmission coefficient. It is found that the energy transmission coefficient follows a similar trend for all types of stress waves, but stress waves with different waveforms have different values. The energy transmission coefficient increases with the increase in the wave amplitude and duration, but decreases with the gap width. It also increases at the outset, and then decreases gradually with the increase in the incident angle for rectangle, symmetric triangle and ascending triangle waves, but it decreases with the incident angle for sine and descending triangle waves. Furthermore, different-shaped stress waves have different critical gap widths for wave transmission. The optimal incident angle and the critical gap width increase as the wave duration increases, but the critical stress amplitude decreases.