Love waves in a fluid-saturated porous layer under a rigid boundary and lying over an elastic half-space under gravity

In this paper, mathematical modeling of the propagation of Love waves in a fluid-saturated porous layer under a rigid boundary and lying over an elastic half-space under gravity has been considered. The equations of motion have been formulated separately for different media under suitable boundary conditions at the interface of porous layer, elastic half-space under gravity and rigid layer. Following Biot, the frequency equation has been derived which contain Whittaker’s function and its derivative that have been expanded asymptotically up to second term (for approximate result) for large argument due to small values of Biot’s gravity parameter (varying from 0 to 1). The effect of porosity and gravity of the layers in the propagation of Love waves has been studied. The effect of hydrostatic initial stress generated due to gravity in the half-space has also been shown in the phase velocity of Love waves. The phase velocity of Love waves for first two modes has been presented graphically. Frequency equations have also been derived for some particular cases, which are in perfect agreement with standard results. Subsequently the lower and upper bounds of Love wave speed have also been discussed.