Polar radiation patterns of P and SV waves in a multi-layered medium

Abstract

abstract The displacement field in a multi-layered medium due to incident plane P or SV waves is formulated in terms of Haskell's layer matrices. Based on the reciprocity theorem, the far-field polar radiation patterns of single force, double force, single couple, double couple, and dilatation in a multi-layered medium can be obtained from the displacement field and its first derivatives with respect to the spatial coordinates. Numerical results for models of one layer overlying a half-space indicate that (1) the radiation patterns are sensitive to the variation of focal depth, (2) the layering has a more pronounced effect on SV-wave radiation patterns than on P-wave radiation patterns, (3) the radiation patterns become simpler as the wavelength increases, (4) polarity may reverse abruptly somewhere beyond the critical angle in SV-wave radiation patterns, (5) radiation may be discontinuous across interfaces for some assumed focal mechanisms applied slightly above and below the interfaces, and (6) no clearcut distinction among the various radiation patterns can be used to single out one type of the assumed focal mechanisms from the rest.