Seismic waves

Wave propagation Hookes law Newtons law wave equation Wavefronts and Rays Interfaces Reflection and Transmission coefficients

Seismic Waves
body waves
P-waves (longitudinal, compressional) S-waves (shear, transverse) SV-wave SH-wave

Body waves:

Different kind of waves

Longitudinal waves (P-waves) Transversal waves (S-waves)

12 3 4 5

1 2 34 5

Examples of different waves

Elektromagnetic spectrum
100 Earthquake, audible + seismic

AM, FM, Georadar, 106

Visible,

X-ray 1019 Hz

Acoustic spectrum Frequency

Surface waves

Rayleigh-waves

Love-waves

Newtons law
P(z) Uz P(z+z)

P is the acoustic pressure Uz is the displacement

Newtons law
P(z) Uz P(z+z)

d2 U P(z+z) - P(z) = - z 2 z dt is the massdensity

Newtons law
P(z) Uz P = 2 U - 2 z z t P(z+z)

Hookes law
Uz(z) P Uz(z+z)

Uz(z+z) - Uz (z) = - z P is the compressibility

Hookes law
Uz(z) P Uz(z+z)

U = - P z z

Acoustic Expressions
2 P + 2 Uz= 0 z t U +P=0 z z

Acoustic expressions with source term

2 P + 2 Uz= 0 z t U + P = q (z) z z
(z) is the Dirac function

Acoustic Wave equation

2 2 = -w(t) (z) 1 2 P c2 t2 P z 2 q(t) (sourcesignal) w(t) = 2 t c = ()-1/2 (wavespeed)

Propagation of seismic waves

(Roth et al., 1998)

Object detection using WAVES:

Object detection using WAVES

Source B

Receiver O

Wavefronts versus Rays

Wavefronts indicate the boundary of the material

which already moves and the material which is still undisturbed. Rays are plotted perpendicular with respect to the wavefronts and describe the dominant propagation of the seismic energy between two locations

Geometrical Wave propagation

Source

Source

Receiver

Rays are perpendicular to the wavefronts,

Interface: reflection

1 2 v1 v2

Angle of incidence = angle of reflection

1 = 2

Interface: Refraction

1 v1 v2 2 2
sin 1 v1 ----------- =----sin 2 v2 v2 > v1 v2 < v1

Special case: critical angle

1 v1 v2 2

2 = 90 sin 1 v1 ---------- =sin 1= ----sin 90 v2

Beyond critical angle: total reflection!

Interface: Conversion from P wave to S wave

1 1 vp1,vs1 vp2,vs2 2

vp sin 1 --------------- = --- 1 sin 1 vs 1

vp sin 1 -------------- = --- 1 sin 2 vs 2

Snells law
1 vp
1

vs

vp

vs

vp

vs

sin sin sin 2 sin 2 sin n ------ 1= --------1 = --------- = -------------- = --------- = p = constant vp vs vp vs vs 1 1 2 2 n

p = Slowness

Refraction caused by place dependent propagation velocity

Propagation of seismic waves

(Roth et al., 1998)

Zoeppritzs equations at normal incidence

R v1 , 1 v 2 , 2 T

Reflection coefficient
v 2 2 v1 1 Z2 Z1 = --------------- = ------------------------------R v2 2 + v 1 1 Z2 + Z1

Transmission coefficient
2v 1 1 2Z 1 -------------------T = ---------------- = ----------v 2 2 + v1 1 Z 2 + Z1

with Z = v = acoustic Impedance R+T=1

Transmission- and Reflection coefficients E ER E = ER + ET v1, 1 v2, 2 ET E = Energy ER = Reflected energy ET = Transmitted energy

4 Z1 Z 2 ET = ( Z 2 + Z1 ) 2
( Z 2 Z1 ) 2 ER = ( Z 2 + Z1 ) 2

Question:
Calculate the reflection coefficient for a wave that travels up and reflects at the freesurface of the see air=1.293 kg/m3, water=1025kg/m3 Vair=0.3 km/s, vwater= 1.4 km/s)
R = v 2 2 v1 v2 2 + v 1 =

-0.9986 = -1

Angle-dependent reflection- and transmission-coefficients

vP1/vP2=?

1/2=?

vP1/vS2=?

(Sheriff and Geldart, 1995)

Angle-dependent reflection- and transmission-coefficients

Z2/Z1=?