S U M M A R YReflection/refraction process is studied to calculate the energy distribution and transmission in a general anisotropic poroelastic solid half-space in contact with a fluid half-space. Biot's theory is used to study the propagation of plane harmonic waves in an anisotropic fluidsaturated porous solid. Snell's law for reflection/refraction at an interface between fluid and anisotropic poroelastic solid is calculated for the wave propagation in three dimensions. From the velocity and direction of incident wave in the fluid medium, Snell's law is used to find the phase velocities and phase directions of all the four refracted waves. The phase velocity and phase direction, thus, obtained are used to calculate the group velocity and ray direction of each of the refracted waves. The energy of the incident wave is distributed among one reflected wave and four quasi-waves refracted to the anisotropic poroelastic medium. Energy transmission with each of the reflected/refracted waves is studied along with their directions of travel in 3-D space. The variations of energy partition with the direction of the incident wave are computed for a particular model. The effect of azimuthal anisotropy on the partition and transmission of energy is observed.Dynamic behaviour of fluid-saturated porous media is attracting considerable attention as a result of its importance in earthquake engineering, oil exploration, soil dynamics and hydrology. The poroelastic equations formulated by Biot (1956) have long been regarded as standard and have formed the basis for solving wave-propagation problems in poroelasticity. Biot (1955) presented the stress-strain relations for an anisotropic poroelastic solid. Anisotropy in porous solids may be the result of propagation through distribution of aligned cracks, microcracks and preferentially-oriented pore space. Occasionally, anisotropy may be the result of some other phenomena, such as rock foliation or crystal alignment. Following Biot's theory, Schmitt (1989) and Sharma (1991) studied the wave propagation in transversely isotropic poroelastic solids. Thomsen (1995) related the anisotropy to crack parameters in a porous rock and suggested that amount and type of anisotropy in the porous rocks depend upon the crack density, crack shape, stiffness of interstitial fluid, equant porosity, frequency, fluid pressure and flow between cracks and pores. This work was supported by the experimental study of anisotropy of sandstone with controlled crack geometry by Rathore et al. (1995). Sharma (1996) discussed the coexistence of cracks and pores and its effect on surface wave propagation. Hudson et al. (1996) studied the effect of connection between cracks and of small-scale porosity within the solid material on the overall elastic properties of cracked solids.The study of anisotropic elasticity is also important for understanding the mechanical behaviour of composite materials (Braga 1990;Fan & Hwu 1998). Anisotropy in these materials results from the presence of crystals of particular symmetry ...