Papers by Author: Francisco José Sánchez-Sesma

Abstract: In this paper, the scattering of elastic waves in a fluid-solid interface is researched. The Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM) was used to study this wave propagation phenomenon in a 2D fluid-solid model. The source, represented by a Hankel´s function of the second kind, is always applied in the fluid. This approximate boundary integral technique is based upon the integral representation for scattered elastic waves using single-layer boundary sources. The approach presented is usually called IBEM as the sources’ strengths should be obtained as an intermediate step. This indirect formulation can give a deep physical insight to the analyst on the generated diffracted waves, because it is closer to the physical reality and can be regarded as a realization of Huygens’ Principle, which mathematically is fully equivalent to the classical Somigliana’s representation theorem. In order to gauge accuracy, the method was tested by comparing it to an analytical solution. A near interface pulse generates scattered waves that can be registered by sensors located in the fluid. Results are presented in time domain, where several aspects related to the different wave types that emerge from this kind of problems are pointed out.

Abstract: In this paper, the scattering of P-waves by hidden cracks located near to a free surface is investigated. The Indirect Boundary Element Method was used in order to study the wave propagation phenomenon in a halfspace considering various crack models. A near free-surface crack generates scattered surface waves whose amplitude spectra show conspicuous resonance peaks. Such effect has been attributed to local resonances of a virtual layer formed by the free surface and the up crack´s face. For the case of two-near-free-surface cracks the amplitude spectra show additional peaks, which can be associated to the presence of the second crack. Given similar sizes between these two cracks, the characteristic resonance frequency measured at the free surface corresponds mainly to the equivalent layer formed by the shallowest crack and the free surface. However, when the deepest crack becomes sufficiently large with respect to the shallow crack, two characteristic resonance frequency peaks appear. To illustrate the response and multiple scattering effects due to the presence of a second crack, results in frequency domain are provided. For the case of a near free-surface crack, results obtained by means of the formulation shown here have been verified against those obtained by using an analytical solution and good agreement was obtained.