Manipulation of seismic Rayleigh waves using a phase-gradient rubber metasurface

Abstract

In this paper, a new method is proposed to manipulate seismic Rayleigh waves using phase-gradient metasurfaces. This highly compact artificial structure enables the anomalous refraction of Rayleigh waves according to the generalized Snell’s law (GSL). The soil-embedded metasurface is composed of only one column of commercial rubber blocks, which can provide an accurate phase shift to the Rayleigh wave. To verify the flexibility of this method, several metasurfaces are designed. Numerical results demonstrate that the Rayleigh waves can be focused, split, or converted into evanescent waves by using specific phase gradient configurations. The investigation also suggests the strong potential of metasurface as a smart device for shielding of seismic surface waves.