Rayleigh waves in Cosserat elastic materials

The present paper gives explicit solutions for surface waves propagation in a homogeneous half space filled with an isotropic Cosserat elastic material. Such solutions are important in the study of seismic waves in an earthquake, supposing that the bottom land is modeled as having a microstructure. To construct explicit expressions for the possible surface waves under consideration, we use the Stroh formalism. These solutions are further used to study the Rayleigh waves and to give the explicit equation for the Rayleigh surface wave speed (secular equation). Numerical calculations and graphics corresponding to the analytical solution are given for aluminium-epoxy composite. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.