A Laguerre series approach to the calculation of wave properties for surfaces of inhomogeneous elastic materials (Q1081344)

We present a new numerical method for calculating the properties of waves on surfaces of inhomogeneous elastic materials of any anisotropy. The method uses the wave equation with the elastic moduli and mass density assumed to be functions of position. The displacement field is expanded in a series of Laguerre functions and, with the use of orthonormality, the solution of the wave equation is reduced to an eigenvalue problem. We have developed the necessary formulas to apply the method to elastic half-spaces in which the inhomogeneity in the elastic moduli and the density is a function of depth, and present dispersion curves and displacement fields for waves with shear horizontal and sagittal plane polarization propagating on the surfaces of cubic materials. The convergence properties of the method appear to be excellent, and the details for its application, a discussion of its limitations, and suggestions for its extension are also presented.