THE PROPAGATION OF ELASTIC WAVES IN PLANE-PARALLEL MEDIA

Alisa CURLICOVSCHI Universitatea de Stat din Moldova

Abstract

Elastic waves occur only if the source of oscillation (perturbation) and the elastic propagation medium exist. Their continuous propagation takes place at a finite speed, the so-called elastic waves propagation speed, and location in time and space refers to the oscillation source. Elastic wave transmits energy and momentum, and oscillations propagation through an elastic medium in the form of elastic waves, shows the tendency of the system towards a minimum potential energy, i.e. to a new steady state. The paper presents the solution of the problem of the monochromatic elastic waves propagation in plane-parallel mediums. Eigenfunctions of the oscillations for the considered problem do not depend on the wave vector, and the group velocities are smaller than the propagation speeds of the displacement waves in a medium with the same features and it is approaching asymptotically this speed with the increase in wave vector. Keywords: elastic waves, plane-parallel mediums, wave vector, velocity of propagation.