Rayleigh, Love and Stoneley waves in a transversely isotropic saturated poroelastic media by means of potential method

Abstract

Investigation of propagation of surface waves, and also interfacial waves in a saturated either homogeneous or coated half-space in the framework of a simplified version of Biot theory known as u−p formulation is the target of this paper. Both the half-space and the coating are fluid-saturated transversely isotropic in both transport and elastic points of view. The coupled fluid continuity equation and equations of motion are decoupled by virtue of a set of two scalar potential functions. Based on the boundary and/or continuity conditions and appropriate form of scalar potential functions, a secular equation for determination of each of Rayleigh-, Love- and Stoneley-wave velocity and related attenuation coefficients is derived. Moreover, the characteristic equations of different waves are degenerated to explicit forms for some special cases, i.e., saturated isotropic and single-phase materials of either isotropic or transversely isotropic. Furthermore, the effects of hydraulic and mechanical parameters on elastic wave propagation are studied in detail. The dependency of wave velocities and corresponding attenuation coefficients to material parameters are shown graphically and explained in physical point of view. In addition, some wave characteristics are tabulated for a deep understanding of the physical behavior of different waves. Besides, the results are compared with previous studies in special simpler cases, where exact agreements may be discovered from which the validity of the results and the accuracy of numerical computations are evident.