Reflection and transmission of plane waves at surfaces carrying material properties and embedded in second-gradient materials

In this paper reflection and transmission of compression and shear waves at structured interfaces between second-gradient continua is investigated. Two semi-infinite spaces filled with the same second-gradient material are connected through an interface which is assumed to have its own material properties (mass density, elasticity and inertia). Using a variational principle, general balance equations are deduced for the bulk system, as well as jump duality conditions for the considered structured interfaces. The obtained equations include the effect of surface inertial and elastic properties on the motion of the overall system. In the first part of the paper general 3D equations accounting for all surface deformation modes (including bending) are introduced. The application to wave propagation presented in the second part of the paper, on the other hand, is based on a simplified 1D version of these equations, which we call “axial symmetric” case.