Nonstationary love waves of the SH-type in an anisotropic elastic medium. A kinematic approach

Abstract

In this paper, the propagation of Love waves in anisotropic elastic media is studied. These waves are a similar to the transverse surface SH waves in the isotropic case. Necessary conditions for the existence of Love waves of this polarization type near the surface Σ of an anisotropic elastic body are deduced. The algorithm developed here makes it possible to find the direction (s) of transverse surface wave propagation (at every point on the surface Σ). The algorithm employed is illustrated by some special anisotropic cases. The space-time method is used to construct the asymptotics of Love waves for those types of anisotropic media the eikonal equation of which is valid on the surface of an elastic body.