Transient waves in a layered anisotropic elastic medium

Abstract

Wave propagation in a periodically layered medium is studied in which each period consists of two layers of homogeneous anisotropic elastic materials. The layered medium occupies the half-space x ≥ 0 in which the x -axis is normal to the layers. Transient waves in the layered medium are generated by a unit step load in time applied at x = 0. A general solution that applies to any x is obtained in the form of a Laplace transform. Asymptotic solutions valid for large x are then deduced. If the applied load at x = 0 is in the direction of one of the polarization vectors for the layered medium determined here, the stress components propagate uncoupled asymptotically. For general loadings, there are three ‘heads of the pulses’, each of which is in the form of an Airy integral.