Propagation of SH-wave in a corrugated viscous sandy layer sandwiched between two elastic half-spaces

The present paper attempts to investigate the effect of sandiness, corrugated boundary surfaces, heterogeneity, and gravity on phase velocity and attenuation of SH-wave propagating in a viscous sandy layer with corrugated upper and lower boundary surfaces sandwiched between an upper heterogeneous elastic half-space and lower viscoelastic half-space under gravity. Heterogeneity associated with the upper half-space is due to exponentially varying density which is a function of depth; but the rigidity is constant. The closed form of dispersion relation is established and found to be in complex form. Real part and imaginary part of the dispersion relation correspond to dispersion curve and attenuation curve, respectively. One of the salient points of present study is the use of DEBYE asymptotic expansion to establish that the obtained dispersion relation is in well-agreement with the classical Love wave equation in isotropic case. The effect of presence and absence of corrugated boundary surfaces, measured by initial flatness parameter, on dispersion and attenuation curves have been meticulously examined. Moreover, the substantial effect of heterogeneity, sandiness, internal friction, and Biot’s gravity parameter on phase velocity and attenuation coefficient of SH-wave has been studied and demonstrated by means of graphical illustration and numerical computations.