TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTION OF RAYLEIGH WAVES AT CORNERS

Abstract

The methods of two dimensional model seismology were used to investigate the phenomena occurring when a Rayleigh wave is incident upon a corner whose angle is comprised between 0° and 180°. The wave bends its path only for angles between 130° and 180°. For smaller angles large and abrupt variations in reflection and transmission occur; the wave travels to the extremity of the corner and never “cuts corners”; only about 50 percent of the energy of the indicent surface wave is preserved as such, the rest goes into body waves; for a 90° corner the proportion is about 23 percent in P and 26 percent in S, with sharply preferential angles of incidence. The percentages given were found for a “plate Poisson’s ratio” of 0.17.