Poroelastic acoustic wave trains excited by harmonic line tractions

Abstract

A two-dimensional boundary-value problem for a porous half-space with an open boundary, described by the widely recognized Biot's equations of poroelasticity, is considered. Using complex analysis techniques, a general solution is represented as a superposition of contributions from the four different types of motion corresponding to P1, P2, S and Rayleigh waves. Far-field asymptotic solutions for the bulk modes, as well as near-field numerical results, are investigated. Most notably, this analysis reveals the following: (i) a line traction generates three wave trains corresponding to the bulk modes, so that P1, P2 and S modes emerge from corresponding wave trains at a certain distance from the source, (ii) bulk modes propagating along the plane boundary are subjected to geometric attenuation, which is found quantitatively to bex−3/2, similar to the classical results in perfect elasticity theory, (iii) the Rayleigh wave is found to be predominant at the surface in both the near (due to the negation of the P1 and S wave trains) and the far field (due to geometric attenuation of the bulk modes), and (iv) the recovery of the transition to the classical perfect elasticity asymptotic results validates the asymptotics established herein.