THE PENETRATION DEPTH OF THE RAYLEIGH SURFACE WAVES

Abstract

The penetration depth into a medium of sagittally polarized Rayleigh waves propagating on a planar stress-free surface of an isotropic medium, has been considered. Using values of the ratio c_R/c_t (where c_R denotes the velocity of the Rayleigh wave, and c_t, the velocity of the transverse sound wave) calculated from the dispersion relation for the Rayleigh surface wave, the penetration depths (kβ_L)^-1 and (kβ_t)^-1 defined by Maradudin, have been calculated as functions of the ratio CR/CL, (where c_L denotes the speed of the longitudinal acoustic wave), the ratio c_R/c_t and also of the Poisson's ratio σ. The amplitudes of the components U₁ and U₃ of the displacement field for sagittally polarized Rayleigh waves have been calculated as function of the distance x₃ from the surface, for various values of the Poisson's ratio σ.

KEY WORDS:

• Surface waves
• ultrasound