Diffraction of plane compressional wave by a nanosized spherical cavity with surface effects

For nanostructured materials and devices, the effects of surface energy become prominent due to the increasing ratio of surface area to volume. In the present letter, based on the surface elasticity theory, the authors analyzed the diffraction of plane harmonic compressional wave (P wave) by a spherical cavity. The results show that once the radius of cavity reduces to nanometers, surface energy significantly affects the diffraction of elastic waves. For incident waves with different frequencies, the surface effects on dynamic stress concentrations around the spherical cavity are discussed in detail.