The complex phase gradient method applied to leaky Lamb waves.

The classical phase gradient method applied to the characterization of the angular resonances of an immersed elastic plate, i.e.; the angular poles of its reflection coefficient (R) under bar, was proved to be efficient when their real parts are close to the real zeros of (R) under bar and their imaginary parts are not too large compared to their real parts. This method consists of plotting the partial reflection coefficient phase derivative with respect to the sine of the incidence angle, considered as real, versus incidence angle. In the vicinity of a resonance, this curve exhibits a Breit-Wigner shape, whose minimum is located at the pole real part and whose amplitude is the inverse of its imaginary part. However, when the imaginary part is large, this method is not sufficiently accurate compared to the exact calculation of the complex angular root. An improvement of this method consists of plotting, in 3D, in the complex angle plane and at a given frequency, the angular phase derivative with respect to the real part of the sine of the incidence angle, considered as complex. When the angular pole is reached, the 3D curve shows a clear-cut transition whose position is easily obtained. (C) 2002 Acoustical Society of America.