Stoneley wave

Summary

A Stoneley wave is an elastic wave that travels along the plane interface between two solids. It dies out with distance from the interface on both sides. It is the analogue at an internal boundary of the Rayleigh wave at a free surface. Unlike the Rayleigh wave it does not exist for every pair of materials, only when their densities and elastic constants lie in a restricted range. Robert Stoneley studied it in 1924; the related wave at a fluid–solid interface, often called a Scholte wave, is used in borehole acoustics.