This paper is concerned with the propagation of Rayleigh waves in an incompressible orthotropic elastic half-space coated with a thin incompressible orthotropic elastic layer. The main purpose of the paper is to establish an approximate formula for the Rayleigh wave H/V ratio (the ratio between the amplitudes of the horizontal and vertical displacements of Rayleigh waves at the traction-free surface of the layer). First, the relations between the traction amplitude vector and the displacement amplitude vector of Rayleigh waves at two sides of the interface between the layer and the half-space are created using the Stroh formalism and the effective boundary condition method. Then, an approximate formula for the Rayleigh wave H/V ratio of third-order in terms of dimensionless thickness of the layer has been derived by using these relations along with the Taylor expansion of the displacement amplitude vector of the thin layer at its traction-free surface. It is shown numerically that the obtained formula is a good approximate one. It can be used for extracting mechanical properties of thin films from measured values of the Rayleigh wave H/V ratio.
Approximate formula for the H/V ratio of Rayleigh waves in incompressible orthotropic half-spaces coated by a thin elastic layer