Subsonic Free Surface Waves in Linear Elasticity

Abstract

For general anisotropic linear elastic solids with smooth boundaries, Rayleigh-type surface waves are studied. Using spectral factorizations of matrix polynomials, a self-contained exposition of the case of a homogeneous half-space is given first. The main result is about inhomogeneous anisotropic bodies with curved surfaces. The existence of subsonic free surface waves is shown by giving ray series asymptotic expansions, including formulas for the transport equation.