Guided waves in a stratified half-space

The dispersion and excitation mechanisms and the energy distribution of guided waves in a stratified half-space are studied. All possible guided waves excited by a symmetric point source in two or three-layer medium models and their relation to the medium parameters are analyzed in detail. The excitation and propagation characteristics, as well as the energy distribution along the depth direction, of all modes of the surface waves and trapped waves are numerically investigated and analyzed thoroughly not only in the case when the shear wave velocity increases from up to down layers but also when a low-velocity layer is contained in halfspace, especially when the shear wave velocity decreases from up to down layers. It is found that there exist many guided wave modes in the case where the shear wave velocity of each layer increases from up to down layers. However, there is less than one guided wave mode in the case where the shear wave velocity of each layer decreases from up to down layers. The trapped waves exist and propagate along the low-velocity structure in the stratified half-space. It is also found that the characteristic of a mode is related to the source frequency. It is possible that a surface wave at one value of frequency is like a trapped wave at another value of frequency. Finally, the relation of the characteristics of all guided waves (surface waves and trapped waves) to the parameters of media is studied.