Scattering of elastic waves by a plane crack of finite width in a transversely isotropic medium

This work presents a numerical algorithm for solving crack scattering in a transversely isotropic medium whose symmetry axis is perpendicular to the crack surface. The crack is modelled as boundary discontinuities in the displacement u and the particle velocity v , of the stresses [κ u +ζ v ], where the brackets denote discontinuities across the interface. The specific stiffness κ introduces frequency‐dependence and phase changes in the interface response and the specific viscosity ζ is related to the energy loss. The numerical method is based on a domain decomposition technique that assignes a different mesh to each side of the interface, that includes the crack plane. As stated above, the effects of the crack on wave propagation are modelled through the boundary conditions, that require a special boundary treatment based on characteristic variables. The algorithm solves the particle velocity–stress wave equations and two additional first‐order differential equations (two‐dimensional case) in the displacement discontinuity. For each mesh, the spatial derivatives normal to the interface are solved by the Chebyshev method, and the spatial derivatives parallel to the interface are computed with the Fourier method. They allow a highly accurate implementation of the boundary conditions and computation of the spatial derivatives, and an optimal discretization of the model space. Moreover, the algorithm allows general material variability. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.