Non-uniqueness of reflected and transmitted waves (Q1369826)

This note discusses the nonuniqueness occurring when elastic waves are transmitted from a medium into a second one, and these media are separated by an interface \(S\). The authors show that for the reflection on a free boundary and for the reflection-transmission with horizontally polarized incident wave, there exist at least two distinct solutions satisfying boundary conditions. The calculations are carried out by using the so-called independent elementary waves. It is argued that there must be a criterion to choose uniquely a solution to the posed problem. In the literature one imposes usually the condition of causality (i.e. the secondary waves propagate away from the interface \(S\)). Here, the authors show that such a criterion cannot insure the uniqueness. In the authors' opinion, which we consider to be a right one, an additional criterion should include an evaluation of directions of propagation for the flux power density for independent elementary waves. However, this subject deserves further discussions.