The effect of thermal relaxation on rayleight surface waves in a thermoelastic medium

We study the problem of propagation of Rayleigh surface waves in thermoelastic media on the basis of the generalized coupled theory of thermoelasticity, which takes account of the phenomenon of thermal relaxation for sharply nonsteady thermal loads, thereby eliminating the paradox of infinite velocity of propagation of heat. It thus makes it possible to take account of the finite velocity of propagation of heat in the study of the process of propagation of Rayleigh surface waves. Translated fromMatematichni Metodi i Fiziko-mekhanichni Polya, Vol. 40, No. 1, 1997, pp. 85–89.