DIFFRACTION OF SH ELASTIC WAVES BY A CRACK AND THE INTERCEPTION OF SOUND BY A RIGID WALL

Abstract

The propagation of SH elastic waves is studied assuming a surface source of disturbance. The medium is assumed to be a half space with a free crack which extends from the surface to a finite depth. The method is based on the numerical simulation using the finite difference technique, and the interception effect, or in other words the weakening of wave energy, by the crack is studied by the use of Fourier transform. If the correspondence between the SH wave field and that of the sound wave is considered, the same result is interpreted as the interception of the sound by a rigid wall, and that will be an important subject in big cities suffering from noise problems.