Propagation of normal waves in an isolated porous fluid-saturated biot layer

For a porous fluid-saturated Biot layer with boundaries free from stresses and pressure, the wave field is found and dispersion equations are derived. The roots of the dispersion equations and the dependence of the phase velocities of the normal waves on the wave number are investigated by analytic methods. It is shown that the phase velocities of most of the normal waves decrease with increasing wave number. Special investigations are conducted in the case of bend and plate waves and their phase velocities for high and low frequencies. It is also shown that on the boundary of a porous Biot half-space, the Rayleigh wave does not always originate, and conditions for the existence of such a wave are established. © 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation.