Near-surface inhomogeneity effect on the dynamic axial frictionless interaction of a rigid plate and a two-layered transversely isotropic medium

Abstract This study concerns the near-surface inhomogeneity effect on the dynamic frictionless axial interaction of a rigid circular plate with a two-layered transversely isotropic solid under axisymmetric condition. The near-surface inhomogeneity is modeled with the exponential variation of material properties of the top layer along depth. The problem is reduced to a Fredholm integral equation and solved by means of a numerical scheme. Using numerical results, the effect of inhomogeneity on different dynamic responses of the two-layered medium is discussed and the accuracy of numerical results is verified through comparisons with the studies in the literature.