The Seismic Wave Equation

Chapter 3. The Seismic Wave Equation Using the stress and strain theory developed in the previous chapter, we now con- struct and solve the Seismic wave Equation for elastic wave propagation in a uniform whole space. We will show that two types of solutions are possible, corresponding to compressional (P ) and shear (S) waves, and we will derive the equations for their velocities that we presented in the last chapter. This will involve vector calculus and complex numbers; some of the mathematics is reviewed in Appendix 2. For simplicity, in this chapter we assume perfect elasticity with no energy loss in the Seismic waves from any intrinsic attenuation. Introduction: The Wave Equation To motivate our discussion, consider the one-dimensional wave Equation 2u 2. 2 u = c ( ). t2 x2. and its general solution u(x, t) = f (x ct), ( ).

(3.8) This is the fundamental equation that underlies much of seismology. It is called the momentum equation or the equation of motion for a continuum. Each of the terms, u i, τ ij and f i is a function of position x and time. The body force term f generally consists of a gravity term f g and a source term f s. Gravity is an important factor at

Loading..

Tags:

  Seismic

Information

Related search queries