Surface Waves in Cubic Elastic Materials

TLDR: In this paper, the existence of surface waves in a semi-infinite body with traction-free boundary composed of an arbitrary anisotropic elastic material is investigated, and the results are applied to three particular configurations of the boundary and surface wave normals.

Abstract: Summary In Part I of this article a programme is formulated for investigating the existence of surface waves in a semi-infinite body with traction-free boundary composed of an arbitrary anisotropic elastic material. Part II describes in detail the realization of this programme for materials with cubic symmetry, and the results are applied in Part III, first to the general existence problem, then to three particular configurations of the boundary and surface wave normals which display features of especial interest and have previously been the subject of numerical studies. Although intended primarily as a contribution to the theory of elastic surface waves, the article gives extensive consideration to body waves and provides, inter alia , a more complete account of slowness surfaces and acoustic polarization fields for cubic media than has been available hitherto.