An electronic learning environment for the study of seismic wave propagation

An electronic learning environment is developed for the simulation and processing of seismic wave propagation in layered media and implemented as an Elastodynamics Toolbox in Matlab. The calculation of harmonic and transient wave propagation is based on a direct stiffness formulation that is introduced in a computer program Spectral and integrated as an external function in the Elastodynamics Toolbox. The learning environment contains pre- and postprocessing modules, an on-line user's manual and a set of documented examples where various aspects of seismic wave propagation are described and illustrated. The primary motivation for this work is to support a course on seismic wave propagation in layered media. The toolbox has also potential to be used in a research environment to compute the Green's functions of multilayered elastic media, which are needed in boundary element formulations to solve dynamic soil–structure interaction problems.