SH-wave scattering in the orthotropic half-plane weakened by cavities using BIEM

A basic problem of elastodynamics, namely the anisotropic half-plane weakened by cavities of arbitrary shape and swept by upward moving, time harmonic SH-waves is considered here. The method of analysis used is the boundary integral equation method, in both displacement and non- hypersingular traction forms, which is based on Green's function for a point harmonic load in the elastic, homogeneous and anisotropic (orthotropic) half-plane. This type of function is derived in closed form using the Radon transformation and does not require modeling the traction-free horizontal surface. Instead, only the buried cavity surfaces are discretized using a parabolic approximation of the field variables over a given boundary element. Numerical solution is then realized through standard nodal collocation. Following an extensive validation study for the proposed numerical methodology against existing analytical or semi-analytical solutions, a comprehensive number of simulations are conducted to investigate the dependence of the scattered wave field on key problem parameters.