Wave propagation in alternating solid and fluid layers

The exact solution for harmonic plane wave propagation through periodically stratified media composed of alternating elastic solid and ideal fluid layers is derived for all frequencies and wavenumbers. The modal structure and the structure of the pass and stop bands is shown in the plane of slowness parallel to the stratification, s₁, and frequency, ω. In the low frequency limit, the slowness component perpendicular to the stratification, s₃, is found as a function of s₁, defining slowness surfaces in the s₁ and s₃ plane. At any angle of phase propagation through the medium (except perpendicular) there are two modes, a fast wave for which the motion in the solid and fluid layers is in phase and a slow wave for which the motion is 180° out of phase. An equivalent acoustic medium is found which has an anisotropic density tensor and a nonlocal constitutive relation between pressure and dilatation whose terms are fourth derivatives in time and in the space coordinate parallel to the stratification. This equivalent homogeneous anisotropic medium exhibits the indentical wave behavior as the layered solid fluid medium in the long wavelength limit as it has the same slowness surfaces.