Effects of the microstructure and density profiles on wave propagation across an interface with material properties

The characterization of the interphase condition between two materials is current in mechanics. In general, its modeling is achieved by considering an interface with only purely elastic properties. In this paper, following previous works, also inertial interface properties are taken into account. For sufficiently low-frequency regime, we investigate two density profiles (affine and quadratic), for the interphase. Moreover, the interface and the interphase are placed between two solids with different characteristics. The first one is non-dispersive, while for the second one three cases are considered: (a) solid without microstructure, i.e., a Cauchy continuum, (b) solid with microstructure characterized by normal dispersion, i.e., a strain gradient continuum, and (c) by anomalous dispersion. The reflection coefficients are plotted for each case. These results are evaluated with respect to a benchmark finite elements simulation of the finite heterogeneous interphase, and the error is discussed. It is shown that the effects of microstructure can be appreciated at higher frequencies and that the proposed model results to be accurate.