<Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>-wave ray velocities and the inverse acoustic problem for anisotropic media

The specific features of the calculation of ray velocities of quasi-longitudinal waves in anisotropic media have been considered. A technique for calculating elastic constants using P-wave ray velocities measured in an ultrasonic experiment on spherical samples is presented. It is shown by an example of tabular data that elastic constants С₁₁, С₂₂, and С₃₃ and combinations of constants (С₁₂ + 2С₆₆), (С₁₃ + 2С₅₅), (С₂₃ + 2С₄₄), (С₁₄ + 2С₅₆), (С₂₅ + 2С₄₆), and (С₃₆ + 2С₄₅) can be calculated most accurately for the general case of anisotropic media with elastic properties of arbitrary symmetry. Since the determining system of equations is illconditioned, the values of elastic constants entering these combinations depend on the choosed initial approximation.