Formulas for the slowness of Stoneley waves with sliding contact

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to derive formulas for the slowness of Stoneley waves traveling along the sliding interface of two isotropic elastic half-spaces. These formulas have been obtained by employing the complex function method. From the derivation of them, it is shown that if a Stoneley wave exists, it is unique. Based on the obtained formulas, it is proved that a Stoneley wave is always possible for two isotropic elastic half-spaces with the same bulk wave velocities. This result leads to the fact that a Stoneley wave is always possible for two elastic half-spaces satisfying the Wiechert condition, a condition that plays an important role in acoustic analyses. The obtained formulas are of theoretical interest and they will be useful in practical applications, especially in nondestructive evaluations.