Rayleigh wave

A Rayleigh wave is a seismic surface wave causing the ground to shake in an elliptical
motion, with no transverse, or perpendicular, motion.

Rayleigh wave
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Rayleigh waves are a type of surface acoustic wave that travel along the surface of solids. They can be produced
in materials in many ways, such as by a localized impact or by piezo-electric transduction, and are frequently used
in non-destructive testing for detecting defects. Rayleigh waves are part of the seismic waves that are produced on
the Earth by earthquakes. When guided in layers they are referred to as Lamb waves, Rayleigh–Lamb waves, or
generalized Rayleigh waves.

Characteristics[edit]

Picture of a Rayleigh wave.

Comparison of the Rayleigh wave speed with shear and longitudinal wave speeds for an isotropic elastic material. The speeds
are shown in dimensionless units.

Rayleigh waves are a type of surface wave that travel near the surface of solids. Rayleigh waves include both
longitudinal and transverse motions that decrease exponentially in amplitude as distance from the surface
increases. There is a phase difference between these component motions.[1]
The existence of Rayleigh waves was predicted in 1885 by Lord Rayleigh, after whom they were
named.[2] In isotropic solids these waves cause the surface particles to move in ellipses in planes normal to the
surface and parallel to the direction of propagation – the major axis of the ellipse is vertical. At the surface and at
shallow depths this motion is retrograde, that is the in-plane motion of a particle is counterclockwise when the wave
travels from left to right. At greater depths the particle motion becomes prograde. In addition, the motion amplitude
decays and the eccentricity changes as the depth into the material increases. The depth of significant displacement
in the solid is approximately equal to the acoustic wavelength. Rayleigh waves are distinct from other types of
surface or guided acoustic waves such as Love waves or Lamb waves, both being types of guided waves supported
by a layer, or longitudinal and shear waves, that travel in the bulk.
Rayleigh waves have a speed slightly less than shear waves by a factor dependent on the elastic constants of the
material.[1] The typical speed of Rayleigh waves in metals is of the order of 2–5 km/s, and the typical Rayleigh speed

in the ground is of the order of 50–300 m/s. For linear elastic materials with positive Poisson ratio ( ), the

Rayleigh wave speed can be approximated as .[3] Since Rayleigh waves are confined near the surface, their in-

plane amplitude when generated by a point source decays only as , where is the radial distance. Surface
waves therefore decay more slowly with distance than do bulk waves, which spread out in three dimensions from a
point source. This slow decay is one reason why they are of particular interest to seismologists. Rayleigh waves can
circle the globe multiple times after a large earthquake and still be measurably large.
In seismology, Rayleigh waves (called "ground roll") are the most important type of surface wave, and can be
produced (apart from earthquakes), for example, by ocean waves, by explosions, by railway trains and ground
vehicles, or by a sledgehammer impact.[1][4]

Rayleigh wave dispersion[edit]

Dispersion of Rayleigh waves in a thin gold film on glass.[1]

In isotropic, linear elastic materials described by Lame coefficients and , Rayleigh waves have a speed
given by solutions to the equation

where , , , and .[5] Since this equation has no inherent scale, the boundary value problem
giving rise to Rayleigh waves are dispersionless. An interesting special case is the Poisson solid, for

which , since this gives a frequency-independent phase velocity equal to .

The elastic constants often change with depth, due to the changing properties of the material. This means that
the velocity of a Rayleigh wave in practice becomes dependent on the wavelength (and therefore frequency), a
phenomenon referred to as dispersion. Waves affected by dispersion have a different wave
train shape.[1] Rayleigh waves on ideal, homogeneous and flat elastic solids show no dispersion, as stated
above. However, if a solid or structure has a density or sound velocity that varies with depth, Rayleigh waves
become dispersive. One example is Rayleigh waves on the Earth's surface: those waves with a
higher frequency travel more slowly than those with a lower frequency. This occurs because a Rayleigh wave of
lower frequency has a relatively long wavelength. The displacement of long wavelength waves penetrates more
deeply into the Earth than short wavelength waves. Since the speed of waves in the Earth increases with
increasing depth, the longer wavelength (low frequency) waves can travel faster than the shorter wavelength
(high frequency) waves. Rayleigh waves thus often appear spread out on seismogramsrecorded at distant
earthquake recording stations. It is also possible to observe Rayleigh wave dispersion in thin films or multi-
layered structures.

Rayleigh waves in non-destructive testing[edit]

Rayleigh waves are widely used for materials characterization, to discover the mechanical and structural
properties of the object being tested – like the presence of cracking, and the related shear modulus. This is in
common with other types of surface waves.[6] The Rayleigh waves used for this purpose are in
the ultrasonic frequency range.
They are used at different length scales because they are easily generated and detected on the free surface of
solid objects. Since they are confined in the vicinity of the free surface within a depth (~ the wavelength) linked
to the frequency of the wave, different frequencies can be used for characterization at different length scales.

Rayleigh waves in electronic devices[edit]

Rayleigh waves propagating at high ultrasonic frequencies (10–1000 MHz) are used widely in different
electronic devices.[7] In addition to Rayleigh waves, some other types of surface acoustic waves (SAW),
e.g. Love waves, are also used for this purpose. Examples of electronic devices using Rayleigh waves
are filters, resonators, oscillators, sensors of pressure, temperature, humidity, etc. Operation of SAW devices is
based on the transformation of the initial electric signal into a surface wave that, after achieving the required
changes to the spectrum of the initial electric signal as a result of its interaction with different types of surface
inhomogeneity,[8] is transformed back into a modified electric signal. The transformation of the initial electric
energy into mechanical energy (in the form of SAW) and back is usually accomplished via the use
of piezoelectric materials for both generation and reception of Rayleigh waves as well as for their propagation.

Rayleigh waves in geophysics[edit]

Rayleigh waves from earthquakes[edit]
Because Rayleigh waves are surface waves, the amplitude of such waves generated by an earthquake
generally decreases exponentially with the depth of the hypocenter (focus). However, large earthquakes may
generate Rayleigh waves that travel around the Earth several times before dissipating.
In seismology longitudinal and shear waves are known as P-waves and S-waves, respectively, and are termed
body waves. Rayleigh waves are generated by the interaction of P- and S- waves at the surface of the earth,
and travel with a velocity that is lower than the P-, S-, and Love wave velocities. Rayleigh waves emanating
 outward from the epicenter of an earthquake travel along the surface of the earth at about 10 times the speed of
sound in air (0.340 km/s), that is ~3 km/s.
Due to their higher speed, the P- and S-waves generated by an earthquake arrive before the surface waves.
However, the particle motion of surface waves is larger than that of body waves, so the surface waves tend to
cause more damage. In the case of Rayleigh waves, the motion is of a rolling nature, similar to an ocean
surface wave. The intensity of Rayleigh wave shaking at a particular location is dependent on several factors:

Rayleigh wave direction

 The size of the earthquake.

 The distance to the earthquake.
 The depth of the earthquake.
 The geologic structure of the crust.
 The focal mechanism of the earthquake.
 The rupture directivity of the earthquake.
Local geologic structure can serve to focus or defocus Rayleigh waves, leading to significant differences in
shaking over short distances.

Rayleigh waves in seismology[edit]

Low frequency Rayleigh waves generated during earthquakes are used in seismology to characterise
the Earth's interior. In intermediate ranges, Rayleigh waves are used in geophysics and geotechnical
engineering for the characterisation of oil deposits. These applications are based on the geometric dispersion of
Rayleigh waves and on the solution of an inverse problem on the basis of seismic data collected on the ground
surface using active sources (falling weights, hammers or small explosions, for example) or by recording
microtremors. Rayleigh ground waves are important also for environmental noise and vibration control since
they make a major contribution to traffic-induced ground vibrations and the associated structure-borne noise in
buildings.

Other manifestations[edit]
Animals[edit]
Low frequency (< 20 Hz) Rayleigh waves are inaudible, yet they can be detected by
many mammals, birds, insects and spiders. Humans should be able to detect such Rayleigh waves through
their Pacinian corpuscles, which are in the joints, although people do not seem to consciously respond to the
signals. Some animals seem to use Rayleigh waves to communicate. In particular, some biologists theorize
that elephants may use vocalizations to generate Rayleigh waves. Since Rayleigh waves decay slowly, they
should be detectable over long distances.[9] Note that these Rayleigh waves have a much higher frequency than
Rayleigh waves generated by earthquakes.
After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, some people have speculated that Rayleigh waves served as a
warning to animals to seek higher ground, allowing them to escape the more slowly traveling tsunami. At this
time, evidence for this is mostly anecdotal. Other animal early warning systems may rely on an ability to
sense infrasonic waves traveling through the air.[10]
The other principal surface waves are called Rayleigh waves after the British
physicist Lord Rayleigh, who first mathematically demonstrated their existence. Rayleigh
waves travel along the free surface of an elastic solid such as the Earth. Their motion is a
combination of longitudinal compression and dilation that results in an elliptical motion of
points on the surface. Of all seismic waves, Rayleigh waves spread out most in time,
producing a long wave duration on seismographs.