Diffraction from the edge of a thin elastic half plane and implications for panel measurements.

Solutions for the diffraction of a plane wave from the edge of a semi-infinite, thin elastic plate are presented. A thin plate formulation that takes into account the coupling into both symmetric and antisymmetric waves on the plate is used. The symmetric contributions are found to be small for steel in water but can be significant for plastic plates. Expansions in terms of the fluid loading parameter are used in the far field of the edge to explore the effect of the diffraction from a single edge on transmission measurements. Examples for steel and polymethylmethacrylate in water are presented.