Love waves in a three-layer elastic half-space

Abstract

The conditions for surface acoustic Love waves, propagating in a three-layer isotropic elastic half-space, to exist and dispersion relations for them are investigated. Using the global matrix method and the transfer matrix method, dispersion curves are constructed for the three-layer half-space. It is shown that, in the case of two isotropic layers and an isotropic half-space, a Love wave exists if the velocity of the longitudinal wave in the half-space exceeds the velocity of the longitudinal wave in one layer at least.