Seismic waves

Seismic waves
• Seismic [Gr. Seismos: an earthquake] relating to
an earthquake or artificial shaking of the Earth.
• Wave [OE. wafian], motion that periodically
advances and retreats as it is transmitted
progressively from one particle in a medium to
the next.
• seismic wave: propagation of energy through the
Earth caused by earthquakes or artificial
vibrations.
 Elastic/seismic waves
• Earth materials must behave elastically in order
to transmit seismic waves.

• The degree of elasticity thus determines how well

a material transmits a seismic wave.

• When a material is subjected to stress

(compression, tension, or shearing) strain
(distortion in volume and/or shape
 Elastic waves
• Elastic behavior means the material returns to
its original volume and shape when stresses
removed
 Elastic waves
• Conditions for elastic / inelastic materials :
1) the magnitude and orientation of the
deforming stress (amount of compression,
tension, or shearing); and

2) the length of time the material takes to

achieve a certain amount of distortion (strain
rate)
 Elastic waves
• Conditions for elastic / inelastic materials :
1) the magnitude and orientation of the
deforming stress (amount of compression,
tension, or shearing); and

2) the length of time the material takes to

achieve a certain amount of distortion (strain
rate)
 Elastic constants
• An elastic modulus, or modulus of elasticity, is the
mathematical description of an object or substance's
tendency to be deformed elastically (i.e., non-permanently)
when a force is applied to it.
𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠
𝐸𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 =
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛

• If stress is measured in Pascal, since strain is a

dimensionless quantity, then the units of λ are Pascal as
well.

• An elastic constant describes the strain of a material under

a certain type of stress.
 Elastic constants
• The bulk modulus (k) describes
volumetric elasticity or
incompressibility: the tendency of
an object to deform in all directions
when uniformly loaded in all
directions; it is defined as
volumetric stress over volumetric
strain.
• The uniform compression of a fluid
or solid under hydrostatic pressure
(again force divided by area)
produces a strain which is the
fractional change in volume and the
constant of proportionality is the
bulk modulus.
 Elastic constants
• The shear modulus or modulus or rigidity (G or μ) describes an
object's tendency to shear (the deformation of shape at constant
volume) when acted upon by opposing forces; it is defined as shear
stress over shear strain.

• Finally for an element in shear, the force is applied tangentially to

one of the sides of the cube. The stress is now the force divided by
the area over which the shear is applied, and the strain is the lateral
deformation dl divided by height of the element, l. For small
deformations the latter ratio is simply the angular deformation θ.
 Elastic constants
• Young's modulus (E) describes tensile elasticity, or the tendency of
an object to deform along an axis when opposing forces are
applied along that axis; it is defined as the ratio of tensile stress to
tensile strain. It is often referred to simply as the elastic modulus.

• For a model of a rod with rectangular cross section of area dA and

length l the ratio of the stress, the applied axial force divided by
the cross sectional area, to the strain, the change in length dl
divided by the length is a constant. The constant now known as
Young’s modulus, is given by:
Poisson’s ratio
• One more important physical property is Poisson’s
relationship. When an object is compressed (or extended) it is
observed that it expands (or contracts) perpendicular to the
direction of the applied stress.

• The ratio of the transverse strain to the axial strain is Poisson’s

ratio.
 Elastic constants
Lame’s constant (𝜆) :
• Lame’s constant (𝜆) illustrates the relationship
between the four constants discussed above,
according to:

• It can be used as one of the parameters

describing the velocity of seismic waves through
the material.
 Types of Seismic waves
• Conditions for elastic / inelastic materials :
1) the magnitude and orientation of the
deforming stress (amount of compression,
tension, or shearing); and

2) the length of time the material takes to

achieve a certain amount of distortion (strain
rate)
 Types of Seismic Waves

• There are several different kinds of seismic waves,

and they all move in different ways.
– Body waves
– Surface waves.
• Body waves can travel through the earth's inner
layers, but surface waves can only move along the
surfaces like ripples on water.
• Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body
and surface waves.
 P or Primary waves

• The first kind of body wave is P wave or primary

wave.
• This is the fastest kind of seismic wave, and,
consequently, the first to arrive at a seismic
station.
• P wave can move through solid rock and fluids,
like water or the liquid layers of the earth.
• It pushes and pulls the rock it moves through just
like sound waves push and pull the air.
 P or Primary waves

• P waves are also known as compressional

waves, because of the pushing and pulling
they do.
• Subjected to a P wave, particles move in the
same direction that the wave is moving in,
which is the direction that the energy is
traveling in, and is called the direction of wave
propagation.
 S or Secondary waves
• The second type of body wave is the S
wave or secondary wave, which is the second wave
you feel in an earthquake.
• S wave is slower than a P wave and can only move
through solid rock, not through any liquid medium.
• It is this property of S waves that led seismologists to
conclude that the Earth's outer core is a liquid.
• S waves move rock particles up and down,
perpendicular to the direction that the wave is
travelling in (the direction of wave propagation).
 SURFACE WAVES
• Travelling through the crust, surface waves are of
a lower frequency than body waves, and are
easily distinguished on a seismogram as a result.
• Though they arrive after body waves, it is surface
waves that are almost entirely responsible for the
damage and destruction associated with
earthquakes.
• This damage and the strength of the surface
waves are reduced in deeper earthquakes.
 LOVE WAVES
• The first kind of surface wave is called a Love wave,
named after A.E.H. Love, a British mathematician
who worked out the mathematical model for this
kind of wave in 1911.

• It's the fastest surface wave and moves the ground

from side-to-side.

• Confined to the surface of the crust, Love waves

produce entirely horizontal motion.
 RAYLEIGH WAVES
• The other kind of surface wave is the Rayleigh wave,
named for John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, who
mathematically predicted the existence of this kind of
wave in 1885.

• A Rayleigh wave rolls along the ground just like a wave

rolls across a lake or an ocean. Because it rolls, it moves
the ground up and down, and side-to-side in the same
direction that the wave is moving.

• Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the

Rayleigh wave, which can be much larger than the other
waves.
 Seismic wave velocities

The rates at which seismic

waves propagate through
elastic media are dictated by
the elastic moduli and
densities of the rocks
through which they pass
 Seismic waves
Factors affecting seismic wave velocity

1. Depth
2. Density
3. Porosity
4. Type of media
Seismic waves
 Propagation of waves
• A wave front is a surface along which portions of
a propagating wave are in phase.
•
• The maximum amplitude of particle motion
occurs along the 90° phase wavefront

• Other wave fronts correspond to positions where

the wave goes from positive to negative
amplitude (180°) and at minimum amplitude
(270°).
Wavefrots
 Wavefrots
• In a homogeneous medium (constant
seismic velocities). the body waves (P
and S) radiate outward along spherical!
wavefronts while Rayleigh waves (R) roll
along the surface.

• Seismic energy travels along trajectories

perpendicular to wavefronts, known as
raypaths

• Variations in body wave velocity cause

wave fronts to deviate from perfect
spheres. thus bending or “refracting” the
raypaths.

• Raypaths can be used to analyze portions

of seismic waves that make it back to the
surface, as dis- cussed below for direct.
critically refracted, and reflected waves.