Abstract
Many studies have been published on dispersive RAYLEIGH waves. However they were mainly confined within either dispersion-curves or ratios of vertical displacement to horizontal one where POISSON'S ratio of the layer was usually assumed to be 0.25. The present author has attempted to carry out more general studies than before on absolute amplitudes for various values of POISSON'S ratio. In order to investigate the superficial waves near the surface of the earth, scholars must undertake these general studies, though theoretical treatments will be considerably troublesome.
For this purpose, displacement-potentials have been expressed with reflecting coefficients in this paper where a useful operator has been derived from the characteristic equation.
The characteristic equation in general has been expressed by a hyperbola.
