Effects of director rotation relaxation on viscoelastic wave dispersion in nematic elastomer beams

Abstract

In this paper, the transverse wave dispersion in a nematic elastomer (NE) Timoshenko beam is studied by considering anisotropy and viscoelasticity of NEs in the low frequency limit. Firstly, the characteristic equations of wave motion in an NE beam are derived, and then numerically solved to obtain the corresponding phase velocities and attenuation factors. The influences of anisotropic parameter, director rotation and rubber relaxation times on the wave dispersion in an NE beam are discussed. Results show that unlike the situation in general isotropic viscoelastic beam, non-classical viscoelastic wave dispersion is found in NE beams. Geometric dispersion is restrained with the vanishing of cut-off frequencies for shear waves due to director rotation relaxation of NEs. This unique property promises prospective applications of NE beams in optic or acoustic design.