The edge wave on an elastically supported Kirchhoff plate

Abstract

This Letter deals with an analysis of bending edge waves propagating along the free edge of a Kirchhoff plate supported by a Winkler foundation. The presence of a foundation leads to a non-zero cut-off frequency for this wave, along with a local minimum of the associated phase velocity. This minimum phase velocity corresponds to a critical speed of an edge moving load and is analogous to that in the classical 1D moving load problem for an elastically supported beam.