http://www.hindawi.comThe latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation© 2012, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2012/172625/We introduce a multiengine speech processing system that can detect the location and the type of audio signal in variable noisy environments. This system detects the location of the audio source using a microphone array; the system examines the audio first, determines if it is speech/nonspeech, then estimates the value of the signal to noise (SNR) using a Discrete-Valued SNR Estimator. Using this SNR value, instead of trying to adapt the speech signal to the speech processing system, we adapt the speech processing system to the surrounding environment of the captured speech signal. In this paper, we introduced the Discrete-Valued SNR Estimator and a multiengine classifier, using Multiengine Selection or Multiengine Weighted Fusion. Also we use the SI as example of the speech processing. The Discrete-Valued SNR Estimator achieves an accuracy of 98.4% in characterizing the environment's SNR. Compared to a conventional single engine SI system, the improvement in accuracy was as high as 9.0% and 10.0% for the Multiengine Selection and Multiengine Weighted Fusion, respectively.Ahmad R. Abu-El-Quran, Adrian D. C. Chan, and Rafik A. GoubranCopyright © 2012 Ahmad R. Abu-El-Quran et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2012/975125/The purpose of this paper is to discuss a methodology for determining some modal parameters (frequencies, damping ratios, and seismic eigenvectors) and, under certain hypotheses, the physical matrices of a general structure with proportional damping and subjected to seismic loads. The procedure is based on a time-domain state space formulation from which the modal parameters, including the seismic eigenvectors, and the complex eigenvectors of the system can be derived also in the case of a limited set of instrumentations. The conditions to normalize the eigenvectors are then illustrated and, finally, applied to derive the second-order matrices of the system. The proposed procedure is applied to some numerical examples also in the case of noise-polluted measurements and to an experimental investigation performed on a four-story steel frame subjected to earthquake excitations. An optimization procedure to improve the prediction of the first-order modal parameters of the system is also discussed and experimentally proved.M. De Angelis and M. ImbimboCopyright © 2012 M. De Angelis and M. Imbimbo. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2012/389053/Machine condition monitoring and diagnosis have become increasingly important, and the application of these processes has been widely investigated. The authors previously proposed a stepwise diagnosis method for a beam structure. In that method, the location of the abnormality is first estimated using the force identification approach, and then the cause of the abnormality is identified. In this study, the stepwise diagnosis method was improved specifically for rotating machinery. The applicability of the proposed method was checked by using the experimental data. In the case of a rotor system with unbalance, it was shown that the location of the abnormality and its severity could be identified, and, in the case of a rotor system with stationary rubbing, the location of the abnormality could be accurately identified. Therefore, it was confirmed that the proposed diagnostic method is feasible for actual application.Shozo Kawamura, Kazuhiro Niimi, Yuichi Kato, and Hirofumi MinamotoCopyright © 2012 Shozo Kawamura et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/403684/Use of laminated composites in civil engineering structural components including shell roofs is increasing day by day due to their light weight, high specific strength, and stiffness properties. In the present paper, laminated composite hypar shell (hyperbolic paraboloidal shells bounded by straight edges) roofs with cutouts are analyzed for their free vibration characteristics using finite element method. An eight-noded curved shell element is used for modeling the shell. Specific numerical problems of earlier investigators are solved to compare their results with the present formulation. A number of problems are further solved where the size of the cutouts and their positions with respect to the shell centre are varied for different edge constraints. The results are furnished in the form of figures and tables. The results are examined thoroughly to arrive at some meaningful conclusions useful to designers.Sarmila SahooCopyright © 2011 Sarmila Sahoo. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/546280/Previous numerical and experimental works show that time delay technique is efficient to reduce transmissibility of vibration in a single pneumatic chamber by controlling the pressure in the chamber. The present work develops an analytical study to demonstrate the effectiveness of such a technique in reducing transmitted vibrations. A quarter-car model is considered and delayed hysteretic suspension is introduced in the system. Analytical predictions based on perturbation analysis show that a delayed hysteretic suspension enhances vibration isolation comparing to the case where the nonlinear damping is delay-independent.Lahcen Mokni and Mohamed BelhaqCopyright © 2011 Lahcen Mokni and Mohamed Belhaq. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/159437/An inviscid liquid half-space is considered in welded contact with a orthotropic micropolar solid half-space. Appropriate plane harmonic solutions of equations governing a liquid half-space and an orthotropic solid half-space are obtained. These solutions satisfy the required boundary conditions at the interface to obtain a system of four nonhomogeneous equations in amplitude ratios for incident quasi-longitudinal displacement wave. The amplitude ratios of various reflected and refracted waves are computed numerically for a particular example of the present model. The effect of anisotropy upon these amplitude ratios is shown graphically for a particular range of the angle of incidence.Baljeet Singh and Ritu SindhuCopyright © 2011 Baljeet Singh and Ritu Sindhu. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/765429/A blind speech separation method with low computational complexity is proposed. This method consists of a combination of independent component analysis with frequency band selection, and a frame-wise spectral soft mask method based on an interchannel power ratio of tentative separated signals in the frequency domain. The soft mask cancels the transfer function between sources and separated signals. A theoretical analysis of selection criteria and the soft mask is given. Performance and effectiveness are evaluated via source separation simulations and a computational estimate, and experimental results show the significantly improved performance of the proposed method. The segmental signal-to-noise ratio achieves 7 [dB] and 3 [dB], and the cepstral distortion achieves 1 [dB] and 2.5 [dB], in anechoic and reverberant conditions, respectively. Moreover, computational complexity is reduced by more than 80% compared with unmodified FDICA.Kazunobu Kondo, Yu Takahashi, Seiichi Hashimoto, Hiroshi Saruwatari, Takanori Nishino, and Kazuya TakedaCopyright © 2011 Kazunobu Kondo et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/150310/The basic idea of a seismic barrier is to protect an area occupied by a building or a group of buildings from seismic waves. Depending on nature of seismic waves that are most probable in a specific region, different kinds of seismic barriers can be suggested. Herein, we consider a kind of a seismic barrier that represents a relatively thin surface layer that prevents surface seismic waves from propagating. The ideas for these barriers are based on one Chadwick's result concerning nonpropagation condition for Rayleigh waves in a clamped half-space, and Love's theorem that describes condition of nonexistence for Love waves. The numerical simulations reveal that to be effective the length of the horizontal barriers should be comparable to the typical wavelength.Sergey V. Kuznetsov and Aybek E. NafasovCopyright © 2011 Sergey V. Kuznetsov and Aybek E. Nafasov. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/473282/This paper describes the development of adaptive acoustic impedance control (AAC) technologies to achieve a larger fan noise reduction, by adaptively adjusting reactance and resistance of the acoustic liner impedance. For the actual proof of the AAC technology III performance, the advanced fan noise absorption control duct liner II was made on trial basis, with the simple control system and the plain device. And, then, the duct liner II was examined for the AAC technology I, II, and III models, using the high speed fan test facility. The test results made clear that the duct liner II of the AAC technology III model could achieve the fan noise reduction higher than O.A. SPL 10 dB (A) at the maximum fan speed 6000 rpm, containing the reduction of fundamental BPF tone of 18 dB and 2nd BPF tone of 10 dB in response to the fan peed change from 3000 to 6000 rpm.Hiroshi Kobayashi, Schunichi Ozaki, and Makoto YokochiCopyright © 2011 Hiroshi Kobayashi et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/697108/An active noise control scenario of simple ducts is considered. The previously suggested technique of using an single loudspeaker and its rear sound to cancel the upstream sound is further examined and compared to the bidirectional solution in order to give theoretical proof of its advantage. Firstly, a model with a new approach for taking damping effects into account is derived based on the electrical transmission line theory. By comparison with the old model, the new approach is validated, and occurring differences are discussed. Moreover, a numerical application with the consideration of damping is implemented for confirmation. The influence of the rear sound strength on the feedback-path system is investigated, and the optimal condition is determined. Finally, it is proven that the proposed source has an advantage of an extended phase lag and a time delay in the feedback-path system by both frequency-response analysis and numerical calculation of the time response.Karel Kreuter and Yasuhide KobayashiCopyright © 2011 Karel Kreuter and Yasuhide Kobayashi. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/973591/Wind turbine blades play important roles in wind energy generation. The dynamic problems associated with wind turbine blades are formulated using radial basis functions. The radial basis function procedure is used to transform partial differential equations, which represent the dynamic behavior of wind turbine blades, into a discrete eigenvalue problem. Numerical results demonstrate that rotational speed significantly impacts the first frequency of a wind turbine blade. Moreover, the pitch angle does not markedly affect wind turbine blade frequencies. This work examines the radial basis functions for dynamic problems of wind turbine blade.Ming-Hung HsuCopyright © 2011 Ming-Hung Hsu. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/407470/The aim of this paper is to present analytical and exact expressions for the frequency and buckling of large amplitude vibration of the symmetrical laminated composite beam (LCB) with simple and clamped end conditions. The equations of motion are derived by using Hamilton's principle. The influences of axial force, Poisson effect, shear deformation, and rotary inertia are taken into account in the formulation. First, the geometric nonlinearity based on the von Karman's assumptions is incorporated in the formulation while retaining the linear behavior for the material. Then, the displacement fields used for the analysis are coupled using the equilibrium equations of the composite beam. Substituting this coupled displacement fields in the potential and kinetic energies and using harmonic balance method, we obtain the ordinary differential equation in time domain. Finally, applying first order of homotopy analysis method (HAM), we get the closed form solutions for the natural frequency and deflection of the LCB. A detailed numerical study is carried out to highlight the influences of amplitude of vibration, shear deformation and rotary inertia, slenderness ratios, and layup in the case of laminates on the natural frequency and buckling load.R. A. Jafari-Talookolaei, M. H. Kargarnovin, M. T. Ahmadian, and M. AbediCopyright © 2011 R. A. Jafari-Talookolaei et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/123695/Elastoplastic shock wave propagation in a one-dimensional assembly of spherical metal particles is presented by extending well-established quasistatic compaction models. The compaction process is modeled by a discrete element method while using elastic and plastic loading, elastic unloading, and adhesion at contacts with typical dynamic loading parameters. Of particular interest is to study the development of the elastoplastic shock wave, its propagation, and reflection during entire loading process. Simulation results yield information on contact behavior, velocity, and deformation of particles during dynamic loading. Effects of shock wave propagation on loading parameters are also discussed. The elastoplastic shock propagation in granular material has many practical applications including the high-velocity compaction of particulate material.M. Shoaib and L. KariCopyright © 2011 M. Shoaib and L. Kari. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/576079/This work studies the dynamic behavior of electrostatic actuators using finite-element package software (FEMLAB) and differential quadrature method. The differential quadrature technique is used to transform partial differential equations into a discrete eigenvalue problem. Numerical results indicate that length, width, and thickness significantly impact the frequencies of the electrostatic actuators. The thickness could not affect markedly the electrostatic actuator capacities. The effects of varying actuator length, width, and thickness on the dynamic behavior and actuator capacities in electrostatic actuator systems are investigated. The differential quadrature method is an efficient differential equation solver.Ming-Hung HsuCopyright © 2011 Ming-Hung Hsu. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/735913/A method for localization by acoustic emission in transversely isotropic media is developed and validated. Velocities are experimentally measured and then used to calculate a database of theoretical arrival times for a large number of positions. During an actual test, positions are assigned by comparing measured arrival times with the database's arrival times. The method is applied during load tests on slate samples and compared with visual observations of fractures. The localization method allowed for a good identification of the regions of fracturing at different stages during the test.Bjorn Debecker and André VervoortCopyright © 2011 Bjorn Debecker and André Vervoort. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/984596/New designs of high-resolution ultrasonic imaging systems that operate in the 30–100 MHz region, for example, those based on linear transducer systems, are currently being investigated for medical purposes. Acoustic waves with frequencies in this range can detect microscopic structures in human tissue but will typically only penetrate a few mm because of large attenuation. However, this is sufficient for a diagnostic ultrasound scan of human skin. The signal-to-noise ratio and the focusing properties of the scanner are critical factors in dermatology, which are determined by the transducer design. A linear pulsed PVDF transducer array with a center frequency around 45 MHz is studied by applying numerical simulations, based on the finite element method (FEM), of this electromechanical system. Tx-beamforming properties of linear arrays with one, three, five, and seven active elements are investigated at different depths. The image quality obtained from synthetic Rx-beamforming, using responses from five electrodes, is estimated from reconstructed images of 25–100 μm thick objects. The axial and lateral resolutions of these images are found to be similar with the Tx-beamforming resolution parameters estimated from the time-derivative of the pressure beams.Eivind Brodal, Frank Melandsø, and Svein JacobsenCopyright © 2011 Eivind Brodal et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/583678/A nonlinear time-varying (NLTV) dynamic model of a hypoid gear pair system with time-dependent mesh point, line-of-action vector, mesh stiffness, mesh damping, and backlash nonlinearity is formulated to analyze the transitional phase between nonlinear jump phenomenon and linear response. It is found that the classical jump discontinuity will occur if the dynamic mesh force exceeds the mean value of tooth mesh force. On the other hand, the propensity for the gear response to jump disappears when the dynamic mesh force is lower than the mean mesh force. Furthermore, the dynamic analysis is able to distinguish the specific tooth impact types from analyzing the behaviors of the dynamic mesh force. The proposed theory is general and also applicable to high-speed spur, helical and spiral bevel gears even though those types of gears are not the primary focus of this paper.Jun Wang and Teik C. LimCopyright © 2011 Jun Wang and Teik C. Lim. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/952798/Detection, classification, and tracking of small vessels are important tasks for improving port security and the security of coastal and offshore operations. Hydroacoustic sensors can be applied for the detection of noise generated by vessels, and this noise can be used for vessel detection, classification, and tracking. This paper presents recent improvements aimed at the measurement and separation of ship DEMON (Detection of Envelope Modulation on Noise) DEMON acoustic signatures in busy harbor conditions. Ship signature measurements were conducted in the Hudson River and NY Harbor. The DEMON spectra demonstrated much better temporal stability compared with the full ship spectra and were measured at distances up to 7 km. The combination of cross-correlation and methods allowed separation of the acoustic signatures of ships in busy urban environments.Kil Woo Chung, Alexander Sutin, Alexander Sedunov, and Michael BrunoCopyright © 2011 Kil Woo Chung et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/276898/Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) is associated with a wide variety of health disorders and as a result WBV levels are frequently assessed. Literature outlining WBV accelerations rarely address the calibration techniques and procedures used for WBV sensors to any depth, nor are any detailed information provided regarding such procedures or sensor calibration ranges. The purpose of this paper is to describe a calibration method for a 6 DOF transducer using a hexapod robot. Also described is a separate motion capture technique used to verify the calibration for acceleration values obtained which were outside the robot calibration range in order to include an acceptable calibration range for WBV environments. The sensor calibrated in this study used linear (Y=mX) calibration equations resulting in r2 values greater than 0.97 for maximum and minimum acceleration amplitudes of up to ±8 m/s2 and maximum and minimum velocity amplitudes up to ±100°/s. The motion capture technique verified that the translational calibrations held for accelerations up to ±4 g. Thus, the calibration procedures were shown to calibrate the sensor through the expected range for 6-DOF WBV field measurements for off-road vehicles even when subjected to shocks as a result of high speed travel over rough terrain.Sarah Cation, Michele Oliver, Robert Joel Jack, James P. Dickey, and Natasha Lee SheeCopyright © 2011 Sarah Cation et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/573209/A theoretical basis for the scaling of broadband shock noise intensity in supersonic jets was formulated considering linear shock-shear wave interaction. Modeling of broadband shock noise with the aid of shock-turbulence interaction with special reference to linear theories is briefly reviewed. A hypothesis has been postulated that the peak angle of incidence (closer to the critical angle) for the shear wave primarily governs the generation of sound in the interaction process with the noise generation contribution from off-peak incident angles being relatively unimportant. The proposed hypothesis satisfactorily explains the well-known scaling law for the broadband shock-associated noise in supersonic jets.Max KandulaCopyright © 2011 Max Kandula. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2011/107827/In a fluid-saturated porous formation, acoustics and electromagnetic waves are coupled based on Pride seismoelectric theory. An exact treatment of the nonaxisymmetric seismoelectric field excited by acoustic multipole sources is presented. The frequency wavenumber domain representations of the acoustic field and associated seismoelectric field due to acoustic multipole sources are formulated. The full waveforms of acoustic waves and electric and magnetic fields in the time domain propagation in borehole are simulated by using discrete wave number integration, and frequency versus axial-wave number responses are presented and analyzed.Zhiwen Cui, Jinxia Liu, Yujun Zhang, Kexie Wang, and Hengshan HuCopyright © 2011 Zhiwen Cui et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/284187/The problem of response prediction is investigated for parametric vibration in terms of a new concept. The response solution is presented in the special form of Fourier series for signal degree freedom of parametric vibration based on modulation feedback. By applying harmonic balance and limitation operation, all coefficients of a harmonic component are fully determined with a set of series. Meanwhile, some important dynamic behaviors are exposed through mathematical deduction, and an instability phenomenon can be discussed through given frequency factors. The investigation result shows that the new approach has an advantage in the complete response expression, and it is very significant for the theoretical research and engineering application concerning parametric vibration.Dishan HuangCopyright © 2010 Dishan Huang. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/984361/A general theory for the free and forced responses of n elastically connected parallel structures is developed. It is shown that if the stiffness operator for an individual structure is self-adjoint with respect to an inner product defined for Ck[0,1], then the stiffness operator for the set of elastically connected structures is self-adjoint with respect to an inner product defined on U=Rn×Ck[0,1]. This leads to the definition of energy inner products defined on U. When a normal mode solution is used to develop the free response, it is shown that the natural frequencies are the square roots of the eigenvalues of an operator that is self-adjoint with respect to the energy inner product. The completeness of the eigenvectors in W is used to develop a forced response. Special cases are considered. When the individual stiffness operators are proportional, the problem for the natural frequencies and mode shapes reduces to a matrix eigenvalue problem, and it is shown that for each spatial mode there is a set of n intramodal mode shapes. When the structures are identical, uniform, or nonuniform, the differential equations are uncoupled through diagonalization of a coupling stiffness matrix. The most general case requires an iterative solution.S. Graham KellyCopyright © 2010 S. Graham Kelly. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/589318/Theoretical analyses of hydrodynamic fluid film bearings with different bearing profiles rely on solutions of the Reynolds equation. This paper presents an approach used for analysing the so-called pocket bearings formed from a combination of offset circular bearing profiles. The results show that the variation of the dynamic bearing characteristics with different load inclinations for the pocket bearings is less than that for the elliptic bearing counterpart. It is shown that the natural frequencies as well as the critical speeds, and hence the vibrational behaviour, can also be significantly different for an industrial rotor supported by the different bearings.N. S. Feng and E. J. HahnCopyright © 2010 N. S. Feng and E. J. Hahn. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/474695/Motive forces by muscles are applied to different parts of the human body in a periodic fashion when walking at a uniform rate. In this study, the whole human body is modeled as a multidegree of freedom (MDOF) system with seven degrees of freedom. In view of the changing contact conditions with the ground due to alternating feet movements, the system under study is considered piecewise time invariant for each half-period when one foot is in contact with the ground. Forces transmitted from the body to the ground while walking at a normal pace are experimentally measured and numerically simulated. Fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is employed to numerically simulate the forces acting on different masses of the body. An optimization problem is formulated with the squared difference between the measured and simulated forces transmitted to the ground as the objective function, and the motive forces on the body masses as the design variables to solve.Raghdan J. AlKhoury, Suraj Joshi, Rama B. Bhat, and Shiping MaCopyright © 2010 Raghdan J. AlKhoury et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/501902/This paper deals with the in-plane vibration of circular annular disks under combinations of different boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges. The in-plane free vibration of an elastic and isotropic disk is studied on the basis of the two-dimensional linear plane stress theory of elasticity. The exact solution of the in-plane equation of equilibrium of annular disk is attainable, in terms of Bessel functions, for uniform boundary conditions. The frequency equations for different modes can be obtained from the general solutions by applying the appropriate boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges. The presented frequency equations provide the frequency parameters for the required number of modes for a wide range of radius ratios and Poisson's ratios of annular disks under clamped, free, or flexible boundary conditions. Simplified forms of frequency equations are presented for solid disks and axisymmetric modes of annular disks. Frequency parameters are computed and compared with those available in literature. The frequency equations can be used as a reference to assess the accuracy of approximate methods.S. Bashmal, R. Bhat, and S. RakhejaCopyright © 2010 S. Bashmal et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/696512/The frequency distribution of a short interval period, the SIP distribution, obtained from the vibration of a structure that is excited by the force of non-stationary vibration is available for the robust estimation of the dynamic property of the structure. This paper shows experiments of the health monitoring of a model structure using the SIP distribution. Comparisons of SIP distributions with average DFT spectra are also shown.Yoshimutsu Hirata, Mikio Tohyama, Mitsuo Matsumoto, and Satoru GotohCopyright © 2010 Yoshimutsu Hirata et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/174361/The thickness noise predicted by the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW&H) equation depends on the normal velocity vn which is very sensitive to the meshing size. Isom showed that in far field a monopolar source is equivalent to a dipolar source induced by a uniform distribution of the load on the entire moving surface. The main objective of this paper is to determine a specific expression of Isom's thickness noise in time and frequency domains for subsonic fans. The scope of the proposed expression of Isom's thickness noise is to define a benchmark test of consistency for thickness and loading noise codes in both time and frequency domains for subsonic fans when using the free field solution of FW&H's equation.Sofiane Khelladi and Farid BakirCopyright © 2010 Sofiane Khelladi and Farid Bakir. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/730813/Active noise control systems of simple ducts are investigated. In particular, open-loop characteristics and closed-loop performances corresponding to various structures of control sources are compared based on both mathematical models and experimental results. In addition to the standard single loudspeaker and the Swinbanks' source, we propose and examine a single loudspeaker with a rear sound interference as a novel structure of control source, where the rear sound radiated from the loudspeaker is interfered with the front sound in order to reduce the net upstream sound directly radiated from the control source. The comparisons of the control structures are performed as follows. First, the open-loop transfer function is derived based on the standard wave equation, where a generalized control structure unifying the three structures mentioned above is considered. Secondly, by a comparison of the open-loop transfer functions from the first principle modeling and frequency response experiments, it is shown that a certain phase-lag is imposed by the Swinbanks' source and the rear sound interference. Thirdly, effects on control performances of control source structures are examined by control experiments with robust controllers.Yasuhide Kobayashi, Hisaya Fujioka, and Naoki JinboCopyright © 2010 Yasuhide Kobayashi et al. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aav/2010/814286/An approach is presented for analyzing the transient elastodynamic problem of a plate under an impact loading. The plate is considered to be in the form of a long strip under plane strain conditions. The loading is taken as a concentrated line force applied normal to the plate surface. It is assumed that this line force is suddenly applied and maintained thereafter (i.e., it is a Heaviside step function of time). Inertia effects are taken into consideration and the problem is treated exactly within the framework of elastodynamic theory. The approach is based on multiple Laplace transforms and on certain asymptotic arguments. In particular, the one-sided Laplace transform is applied to suppress time dependence and the two-sided Laplace transform to suppress the dependence upon a spatial variable (along the extent of the infinite strip). Exact inversions are then followed by invoking the asymptotic Tauber theorem and the Cagniard-deHoop technique. Various extensions of this basic analysis are also discussed.Penelope Michalopoulou and George A. PapadopoulosCopyright © 2010 Penelope Michalopoulou and George A. Papadopoulos. All rights reserved.