Theoretical Geophysics

Teacher: Dr K. I. Konstantinou
Lesson 2: Elasticity theory and seismic waves
 Some preliminary definitions that are useful:

Seismology is the branch of geophysics that studies the

generation and propagation of seismic waves through the
Earth and also the occurrence and characteristics of
natural (earthquakes) and man-made seismic sources.

There are three main research fields in seismology:

Earthquake source characterization
Seismic structure of the whole Earth
Statistics of earthquake occurrence
 Stress can be:
(a) normal stress
(b) shear stress

Definition of the Stress tensor

Units of stress:
1 Pa = 1 N m-2
1 bar = 105 Pa
 Deviatoric stresses can be computed,
if we subtract from the normal stresses
the mean normal stress.
The deviatoric stresses will then be
smaller than the normal ones.
 Strain is the result of stress in a material and signifies a
measure of relative change in the displacement field

Note that the volume change due to some strain is equal to the divergence of displacement
The rotation of an element is equal to the curl of the displacement
Be sure you know what grad(u), div(u) and curl(u) mean or re-fresh your vector calculus!!!
 Stress-strain relationship for
perfectly elastic/isotropic materials

Hook's law:
Displacement proportional
to the applied force

F = -kx
Some important parameters
used in Elasticity theory

Elastic moduli have the

same units (Pascal) as
stress

A Poisson solid is the one

that has = , =0.25
and / =1.723
A summary of the stress-strain relationship for materials

Stress-strain diagram
 Momentum equation (or equation of motion)

Stress for a perfectly elastic and isotropic material

 Seismic wave equation (full form)

Simplified seismic wave equation

* No gravity or velocity gradients

* Perfectly elastic and isotropic Earth
 Solutions of the seismic wave equation: P and S waves

For fluids the rigidity modulus is zero, so S-waves cannot propagate through them

Question: what is the physical meaning of no propagation of S-waves through fluids?

For an unbounded medium (no free surfaces) there are only P and S waves!!!
Basic characteristics of seismic (not only!) waves
(see also Table 3.1 in Shearer's book)

* The inverse of period is frequency

* The inverse of wavelength is wavenumber
 Summary of today's lesson

(Chapters 1, 2, 3 from Shearer's book):

> Definition of traction and stress tensor

> Displacement field and strain

> Stress-strain relationship

> Equation of seismic waves and its solutions

> Seismic wave characteristics