Keele Research Repository

Propagation of elastic waves through discrete and continuous periodically heterogeneous media is studied. A two-scale asymptotic procedure allows us to derive macroscopic dynamic equations applicable at frequencies close to the resonant frequencies of the unit cells. Matching the asymptotic solutions by two-point Padé approximants, we obtain new higher-order equations that describe the dynamic behaviour of the medium both in the low and in the high frequency limits. An advantage of the proposed approach is that all the macroscopic parameters can be determined explicitly in terms of the microscopic properties of the medium. Dispersion diagrams are evaluated and the propagation of transient waves induced by pulse and harmonic loads is considered. The developed analytical models are verified by comparison with data of numerical simulations. For high-contrast media, we can observe an analogy between the propagation of waves in heterogeneous solids and in thin-walled waveguides. It is also shown that different combinations of cell resonances may result in some additional types of waves that do not appear in the classical continuous theory.