Chapter 5

Matrix Methods for Plane

Waves
In general, the equations of motion for a plane wave in laterally homogeneous
media can be written in the form:

z
f = Af (5.1)
where the vector f is termed the stress-displacement vector and contains the
displacements and stresses of interest as a function of depth, z, and the ma-
trix A is determined by the ray parameter of the plane wave and the Earth
properties at z. There are four forms of this equation which are of interest to
seismologists: (1) the acoustics problem in which case f is a 2-vector and A is
a 2x2 matrix, (2) the SH-wave problem for which f is also a 2-vector and A
is 2x2, (3) the P-SV problem for which f is a 4-vector and A is a 4x4 matrix,
(4) the general anisotropy problem for which f is a 6-vector and A is a 6x6
matrix. For simplicity we will only derive (5.1) for the acoustics case.
In acoustics we are interested in velocity and pressure. Well call the rele-
vant displacement u = (u, v, w) and stress P (pressure). The governing dier-
ential equation is:
u = (5.2)
In a uid,
ij
= P
ij
. Therefore:
u = P (5.3)
73
74 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
since
j
[P
ij
] =
ij

j
P =
i
P. (5.3) can be written in component form
as:
u =
x
P (5.4)
w =
z
P (5.5)
where we have chosen our coordinate system so that the v displacement is zero
(these are plane waves, making this essentially a two-dimensional problem).
The stress-strain relationship for acoustics takes the form:
P = u = (
x
u +
z
w) (5.6)
Now assume a solution of the form e
i(kxt)
and Fourier transform twice with
respect to t and once with respect to x to obtain:

2
u = ikP

2
w =
z
P (5.7)
P = (iku +
z
w)
where k is the horizontal wavenumber. Note that u does not appear as a
derivative in these equations, that is, it is an algebraic unknown and can be
eliminated:
u =
ik

2
P (5.8)
from the rst equation in (5.7). Substituting into the last equation in (5.7)
yields:
P =
_
k
2

2
P +
z
w
_
(5.9)
Combining (5.7) and (5.9) gives:

z
P =
2
w (5.10)

z
w =
P

k
2

2
_
(5.11)
This can be written in matrix form after a little rearranging:

z
_
P
w
_
=
_
0

k
2

2
_
0
_
_
P
w
_
(5.12)
75
where (P, w)
T
is the stress-displacement vector for the acoustic problem.
Because k = p, we can extract from (5.12):

z
_
P
w
_
=
_
0

p
2
_
0
_
_
P
w
_
(5.13)
Now substitute
2
= / and
2
= u
2

p
2
, the vertical slowness:

z
_
P
w
_
=
_
0

0
_
_
P
w
_
(5.14)
We have achieved the desired form,
z
f = Af, for the equations of mo-
tion. Similar equations can be derived for both SH and the P-SV system
(see Chapter 5 of Aki and Richards). Note that at this point weve made
no assumptions about high frequencies nor have we required that material
properties vary slowly in space. The matrix A will vary discontinuously at
an interface in the Earth but
z
f will always be nite. Therefore, even at a
discontinuity f will vary smoothly in space.
Now assume that A is a constant locally within a homogeneous layer. We
are motivated by the simple scalar dierential equation
d
z
f(z) = cf(z) (5.15)
and its solution
f(z) = e
c(zz
0
)
f(z
0
) (5.16)
to write the solution of (5.14) as
f (k, z, ) = e
A(zz
0
)
f (k, z
0
, ) (5.17)
This is, in fact, a valid way to express the solution. The matrix P(z, z
0
) =
e
A(zz
0
)
is called the Propagator because it propagates the solution at z
0
to z.
We could solve for the Propagator directly by using a Taylor series expansion
to express the exponential of a square matrix:
e
A(zz
0
)
= I +A(z z
0
) +
1
2

2
A
2
(z z
0
)
2
+
1
3!

3
A
3
(z z
0
)
3
+. . . (5.18)
76 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
However it is easier and more instructive to obtain the Propagator through
a dierent approach. The matrix A can be diagonalized by a similarity trans-
formation:
A = E E
1
(5.19)
where is the diagonal matrix of the eigenvalues of A, and E is the matrix
containing the corresponding eigenvectors. We can thus express
z
f = Af
as:

z
f = E E
1
f (5.20)

z
(E
1
f ) = (E
1
f ) (5.21)
Now dene a new vector, w
w = E
1
f or f = Ew (5.22)
so that we can write

z
w = w (5.23)
The corresponding solution is then
w(k, z, ) = e
(zz
0
)
w(k, z
0
, ) (5.24)
This is a much simpler form since the exponential of a diagonal matrix is
simply given by the exponential of the elements , i.e.
e
diag(a
1
,a
2
,a
3
,...,an)
=
_

_
e
a
1
0
0 e
a
2
0

0 0 e
an
_

_
(5.25)
From (5.17), (5.22), and (5.24) we have
f (z) = Ew(z) (5.26)
= Ee
(zz
0
)
w(z
0
) (5.27)
= Ee
(zz
0
)
E
1
f (z
0
) (5.28)
= P(z, z
0
)f (z
0
) (5.29)
77
The Propagator is therefore:
P = Ee
(zz
0
)
E
1
(5.30)
This will generally be easier to evaluate than (5.18).
Lets see how all this works for the acoustics case. In this case A is given
by:
A =
_
0

0
_
(5.31)
The eigenvalues, , of A are given by:

= 0 =
2
+
2
(5.32)
and thus
= i (5.33)
The eigenvectors are obtained from:
_
0

0
_
_
x
1
x
2
_
=
_
x
1
x
2
_
(5.34)
This gives x
2
= x
1
. Setting x
1
= 1, we have x
2
=

. The eigenvalues and

their corresponding eigenvectors are thus:
i
_
1
i

_
i
_
1
i

_
(5.35)
where is an arbitrary scaling factor since the size of the eigenvectors is un-
constrained. The eigenvalue matrix is
=
_
i 0
0 i
_
(5.36)
and the eigenvector matrix E is
E =
_
1 1
i

_
(5.37)
After some algebra we can also obtain an expression for E
1
E
1
=
i
2
_
i

1
i

1
_
(5.38)
78 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
The exponential of is simply:
e

=
_
e
i
0
0 e
i
_
(5.39)
These equations are for the acoustic problem. Section 5.4 of Aki and
Richards gives corresponding equations for the SH and P-SV systems, although
note the slight dierence in notation since A.&R. do not pull the out of the
A matrix. Let us now review some of what we have derived (and switch our
notation slightly!). For the case of laterally homogeneous media, we considered
solutions to the momentum equation with the form:

z
f (, p, z) = A(, p, z)f (, p, z) (5.40)
where f is the displacement-stress vector, is frequency, and A is a matrix
with entries which depend upon the elastic properties of the medium and on
horizontal slowness p, frequency and depth z. Notice that the A in this
equation is slightly dierent than above, since to match the Aki and Richards
notation we now are not factoring out of A. Note that this equation is in
the frequency-wavenumber domain, so that we are considering monochromatic
plane waves. These waves will have both an amplitude and a phase, so the
components of f are complex. In order to obtain the solution in time and
range, we would need to integrate solutions of (5.40) over frequency and ray
parameter p.
The displacement-stress vector f contains two components in the case of
acoustic wave propagation:
f =
_
u
z
P
_
(5.41)
(in our new notation we dont multiply u
z
by ), two components in the case
of SH elastic wave propagation:
f =
_
u
y

yz
_
(5.42)
and four components in the case of P-SV elastic wave propagation:
f =
_
_
_
_
_
u
x
u
z

zx

zz
_
_
_
_
_
(5.43)
79
These equations say that if you know the displacements and stresses at one
depth in the medium then you can calculate the displacements and stresses at
any other depth. Notice that simply knowing the displacement is not enough.
This is because the displacement alone does not tell you if the wave is going up
or going down you dont have enough information to determine the relative
excitation of the various wave types.
A can be diagonalized by a similarity transformation:
= E
1
AE (5.44)
where is a diagonal matrix containing the eigenvalues of A, and the eigen-
vectors of A are the columns of E. These eigenvalues give the possible values
of vertical slowness for plane waves with horizontal slowness p. The eigen-
vectors give the particle motion and stress polarizations for the plane wave
corresponding to each eigenvalue. In the case of acoustic wave propagation,
there will be two eigenvalues and eigenvectors, while in the P-SV elastic case
there will be four eigenvalues and eigenvectors, corresponding to P
up
, S
up
,
P
down
, and S
down
.
Substituting (5.44) into (5.40), we obtain

z
w = w where w = E
1
f (5.45)
w is a vector which contains the excitation factors for the various wave types.
For the P-SV elastic case, the elements of w may be written
w =
_
_
_
_
_

S
`
P
`
S
_
_
_
_
_
(5.46)
where

P corresponds to upgoing P, while
`
P indicates downgoing P, etc. Note
that w is directly related to the displacement-stress vector f by the eigenvector
matrix E
f =
_
_
_
_
_
u
x
u
z

zx

zz
_
_
_
_
_
= E
_
_
_
_
_

S
`
P
`
S
_
_
_
_
_
(5.47)
80 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
The eigenvectors in E are generally normalized in one of two ways. First, they
can be normalized such that a wave of unit excitation will have unit particle
motion amplitude (i.e. u
2
x
+u
2
z
= 1). Second, they can be normalized such that
each wave has the same vertical energy ux. Although either normalization
can be used, the second has certain advantages and is normally the one which
we will prefer to use in computations.
5.1 Reection and Transmission Coecients
Reection and transmission coecients for an interface between two media
may be derived by equating displacements and stresses at the interface

1
,
1
,
1

2
,
2
,
2
f
1
f
2
f
1
= f
2
(5.48)
or
E
1
w
1
= E
1
_
_
_
_
_

P
1

S
1
`
P
1
`
S
1
_
_
_
_
_
= E
2
_
_
_
_
_

P
2

S
2
`
P
2
`
S
2
_
_
_
_
_
= E
2
w
2
(5.49)
or
w
1
= E
1
1
E
2
w
2
= Rw
2
(5.50)
where R = E
1
1
E
2
is the scattering matrix. If we separate waves into incident
and scattered, we can obtain an equation for the reection and transmission
coecients, dened such that
_
_
_
_
_

P
1

S
1
`
P
2
`
S
2
_
_
_
_
_
=
_
_
_
_
_
`
P

P
`
S

P

P

P

S

P
`
P

S
`
S

S

P

S

S

S
`
P
`
P
`
S
`
P

P
`
P

S
`
P
`
P
`
S
`
S
`
S

P
`
S

S
`
S
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
`
P
1
`
S
1

P
2

S
2
_
_
_
_
_
(5.51)
where we have now assumed that medium 1 is above medium 2. Note in the
above expression that
`
P

P (for example) does not mean the product
`
P times
5.2. ENERGY NORMALIZATION AND IMPEDANCE 81

P, but represents the reection coecient for a downgoing P-wave reected

at the interface. Values for the reection/transmission coecients in (5.51)
can be obtained from manipulation of (5.49), or (more conveniently) from the
formulas in Aki and Richards (p. 150). However, remember that the Aki and
Richards formulae are not energy normalized.
Reection and transmission coecients are not frequency dependent so
these values need only be calculated once for each interface in a synthetic
seismogram calculation. These coeents are real for incident waves which are
less than the critical angle. However, for post-critical reections the coecients
are complex and a frequency-independent phase shift is often introduced into
the reected pulse (see Hilbert transform section).
5.2 Energy Normalization and Impedance
The energy density contained in a seismic wave is given by either the strain-
energy density or the kinetic-energy density:
E =
1
2

ij

ij
=
1
2
u
2
(5.52)
where u is the particle motion velocity. In the case of a steady-state displace-
ment wave with amplitude A, the mean energy ux will be proportional to
V A
2

2
, where V is the velocity of the wave and the
2
term comes from the
conversion of displacement to velocity (see Aki and Richards, p. 127 & 151).
In order for energy to be conserved along a wavefront, the amplitude will vary
inversely with (V )
1/2
. The product V is often termed the impedance of a
material, and amplitudes are said to vary as the square root of the impedance
contrast between material. Thus, the amplitude of a seismic wave will increase
as it moves into slower material.
82 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
A
2
= A
1
_

1
V
1

2
V
2
_
1/2
(5.53)
This eect has been noticed for some time in strong motion seismology seis-
mic amplitudes tend to be larger at sites on top of sediment compared with
nearby sites on bedrock. Clearly we need to take this eect into account in
order to calculate accurate synthetic seismograms. One approach would be to
keep track of the impedance along the ray path and continually change the
amplitude of the ray. However, this would become cumbersome for compli-
cated models, particularly when interfaces are present (in this approach the
raw reection and transmission coecients should be used at interfaces).
A much simpler approach is to keep track of the energy along the ray,
and then convert the results to the actual wave amplitude only when this is
required (i.e. at the receiver). In this case, energy normalized reection and
transmission coecients should be used at interfaces. Calculations are done
entirely using wave excitation factors (i.e. the components of w). At any
depth in the model, these factors can be converted to actual particle motion
amplitudes and stresses by multiplying by the appropriate energy normalized
eigenvector.
Consider a segment of a downgoing plane wave of amplitude A
1
in layer 1
which crosses a horizontal interface and continues into layer 2 with amplitude
A
2
:
For simplicity, assume that there are no other reected or transmitted
waves. In this case, the energy per unit area along the segment D must be the
same for the wave both above and below the interface. Thus

1
V
1
A
2
1
cos
1
=
2
V
2
A
2
2
cos
2
(5.54)
5.3. GENERALIZEDREFLECTIONANDTRANSMISSIONCOEFFICIENTS83
where the cos terms are necessary because the interface is not perpendicular
to the rays. This can be written as
A
2
(
2
V
2
cos
2
)
1/2
A
1
(
1
V
1
cos
1
)
1/2
=
`
P
`
P
raw
(
2
V
2
cos
2
)
1/2
(
1
V
1
cos
1
)
1/2
=
`
P
`
P
norm
= 1 (5.55)
where
`
P
`
P
raw
is the un-normalized downward transmission coecient for the
interface, and
`
P
`
P
norm
is the energy normalized transmission coecient. In
this case,
`
P
`
P
norm
= 1 because we have assumed that no other reected or
transmitted waves are present, but this is not generally the case. For scattered
energy from a downgoing P-wave in the P-SV geometry, energy conservation
would require that
`
P
`
P
2
norm
+
`
P
`
S
2
norm
+
`
P

P
2
norm
= 1. Notice that these equations
could also be derived by keeping the energy contained in a ray tube constant,
that is the product of the energy density V A
2
and the cross-sectional area d =
Dcos . Finally, note that the energy normalization equation for geometrical
spreading which we derived earlier, E = Ip/(X
2
0
|
dX
dp
|) is not aected by these
arguments, since
dX
dp
is constant across the interface.
5.3 Generalized Reection and Transmission
Coecients
Suppose we were interested in knowing the response of a stack of layers to
upgoing incident waves. If we knew both the incident (upgoing) and scattered
(downgoing) wave excitation factors (the components of w at the base of the
stack, we could use (4.18) and (4.34) to determine the response throughout
the stack. However, determining the downgoing wave excitation factors is
non-trivial, since these factors must include the eect of all internal reverber-
ations within the stack. A powerful technique for determining the response
of the stack uses the method of generalized reection/transmission coecients
(Kennett, 1974, 1983). In this method, reection/transmission coecients are
calculated for the entire stack by recursively adding on each layer.
Let us begin by dening smaller matrices which separate the upgoing and
84 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
downgoing energy. We can express (5.51) as
_
_
_
_
_

P
1

S
1
`
P
2
`
S
2
_
_
_
_
_
=
_
R
D
T
U
T
D
R
U
_
_
_
_
_
_
`
P
1
`
S
1

P
2

S
2
_
_
_
_
_
(5.56)
where the smaller 2x2 matrices are given by:
T
D
=
_
`
P
`
P
`
S
`
P
`
P
`
S
`
S
`
S
_
(5.57)
T
U
=
_

P

P

S

P

P

S

S

S
_
(5.58)
R
D
=
_
`
P

P
`
S

P
`
P

S
`
S

S
_
(5.59)
R
U
=
_

P
`
P

S
`
P

P
`
S

S
`
S
_
(5.60)
Note that the U or D subscript refers to the direction of the incident wave,
not the scattered wave. For example, the reection given by R
D
is upgoing.
Let us also split the excitation vector w into downgoing and upcoming parts:
w =
_
w
D
w
U
_
(5.61)
In the P-SV case, w
D
and w
U
will each be 2-vectors containing the excitation
factors for P and SV waves. Let us also dene new matrices
D
and
U
such
that:
e

=
_

D
0
0
U
_
(5.62)
Note that the exponential is included in
D
and
U
and that
D
(z
2
, z
1
) =

1
U
(z
2
, z
1
) =
U
(z
1
, z
2
).
Now lets see how our new notation works. Within a constant velocity
layer, the downgoing excitation factors at depth z
1
can be adjusted to a lower
depth z
2
by multiplying by
D
and
U
:
5.3. GENERALIZEDREFLECTIONANDTRANSMISSIONCOEFFICIENTS85
w
D
(z
2
) =
D
(z
1
, z
2
)w
D
(z
1
) (5.63)
w
U
(z
2
) =
U
(z
1
, z
2
)w
U
(z
1
) =
D
(z
2
, z
1
)w
U
(z
1
) (5.64)
We also have
w
D
(z
1
) =
D
(z
2
, z
1
)w
D
(z
2
) (5.65)
w
U
(z
1
) =
U
(z
2
, z
1
)w
U
(z
2
) =
D
(z
1
, z
2
)w
U
(z
2
) (5.66)
Notice that
D
simply contains the phase shifts necessary to propagate the
solution through a layer of thickness h = z
2
z
1
. It changes the phase but not
the amplitude of the components of w
D
and w
U
.
D
is frequency dependent
since the phase shift occurring in a vertical distance h depends upon the wave
frequency.
The reection and transmission coecient matrices can be used to obtain
excitation factors at an interface:
w
+
D
= T
D
w

D
+R
U
w
+
U
(5.67)
w

U
= T
U
w
+
U
+R
D
w

D
(5.68)
Now consider a downgoing wave incident on a constant velocity layer be-
tween 2 interfaces:
86 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
We are interested in determining the reected and transmitted waves for
this entire system and the resulting generalized reection/transmission coe-
cients. Since we have no upcoming waves incident on the bottom layer, the
downgoing energy below interface 2 can be written:
w
2+
D
= T
2
D
w
2
D
(5.69)
We can express w
2
D
in terms of the downgoing waves at the top of the layer,
w
2
D
=
D
w
1+
D
and thus:
w
2+
D
= T
2
D

D
w
1+
D
(5.70)
Now let us develop an expression for w
1+
D
:
w
1+
D
= R
1
U
w
1+
U
+T
1
D
w
1
D
(5.71)
= R
1
U

D
w
2
U
+T
1
D
w
1
D
(5.72)
= R
1
U

D
R
2
D
w
D
2
+T
1
D
w
1
D
(5.73)
= R
1
U

D
R
2
D

D
w
1+
D
+T
1
D
w
1
D
(5.74)
We now have w
1+
D
on both sides. Regrouping, we obtain
w
1+
D
=
_
I R
1
U

D
R
2
D

D
_
1
T
1
D
w
D
1
(5.75)
where the
D
(z
1
, z
2
) terms can be obtained from (5.64) and (5.66). Substitut-
ing into (5.70), we obtain:
w
2+
D
= T
2
D

D
_
I R
1
U

D
R
2
D

D
_
1
T
1
D
w
1
D
(5.76)
This is an expression for the downgoing energy at 2+ in terms of the downgoing
energy at 1. Thus we can write the generalized transmission coecient T
D
for the entire system as:
T
D
= T
2
D

D
_
I R
1
U

D
R
2
D

D
_
1
T
1
D
(5.77)
We can change this around slightly to match the form in Kennetts book
(eqn. 6.3) if we use the matrix identity (AB)
1
= B
1
A
1
to note that:
A(I BA)
1
= A
_
(A
1
B)A
_
1
(5.78)
5.3. GENERALIZEDREFLECTIONANDTRANSMISSIONCOEFFICIENTS87
= AA
1
_
A
1
B
_
1
(5.79)
=
_
A
1
B
_
1
(5.80)
=
_
A
1
B
_
1
A
1
A (5.81)
=
_
A(A
1
B)
_
1
A = (I AB)
1
A (5.82)
and thus
T
D
= T
2
D
_
I
D
R
1
U

D
R
2
D
_
1

D
T
1
D
(5.83)
Using similar methods we can derive expressions for T
U
, R
D
, and R
U
. The
complete set of expressions is given by:
T
D
= T
2
D
_
I
D
R
1
U

D
R
2
D
_
1

D
T
1
D
T
U
= T
1
U
_
I
D
R
2
D

D
R
1
U
_
1

D
T
2
U
R
D
= R
1
D
+T
U
1

D
R
2
D
_
I
D
R
1
U

D
R
2
D
_
1

D
T
1
D
R
U
= R
2
U
+T
2
D
_
I
D
R
1
U

D
R
2
D
_
1

D
R
1
U

D
T
2
U
(5.84)
We will not derive these additional equations. Details can be found in Ken-
netts book. (5.84) gives the equations for the generalized reection/transmission
coecients for a homogeneous layer sandwiched between two half-spaces. No-
tice that everything on the r.h.s (the reection and transmission coecients
for each interface and the phase delays in the layer) can be easily determined
from the equations we have derived in this section.
The power of these equations lies in the fact that they can be used re-
cursively to compute the generalized reection/transmission coecients for a
stack consisting of any number of layers. In this case we would start with the
bottom layer and use (5.84) to compute the generalized coecients for this
layer. The next layer up can then be added to the system, and generalized
coecients calculated for the bottom two layers by replacing T
2
and R
2
in the
above equations with the appropriate generalized values for the bottom layer.
In this way, we can continue to recursively add layers until we obtain the re-
sponse of the entire stack, up to and including the free surface. The resulting
coecients will automatically include all of the possible internal reections
88 CHAPTER 5. MATRIX METHODS FOR PLANE WAVES
and reverberations in the stack. This is a great advantage of reectivity meth-
ods over ray based methods we dont need to specify the innite number of
possible ray paths that all of these reverberations represent.
Notice that the entire calculation applies only to monochromatic plane
waves with a specic frequency and ray parameter. Note that the phase matrix

D
is a function of both and p and must be computed for every value of
(, p), but that the interface reection/transmission coecients do not depend
upon and so need to be computed only once for each p. These calculations
form the heart of reectivity algorithms (e.g. Kennett, 1974) and wavenumber
integration (Apsel, 1979). They result in a complex frequency-wavenumber
spectrum which must then be integrated over frequency and ray parameter to
obtain synthetic seismograms. In general, the integral over ray parameter can
be quite tricky to perform and much of the diculties in writing reectivity
codes comes from computing this integral. The situation is much simpler if one
is interested only in the plane wave response at a particular ray parameter p.
For example, one might be interested in the response of a stack of near-surface
layers to upcoming seismic energy. If we are at a considerable distance from
the source, then the arriving wavefronts will be nearly planar. For constant
p one can obtain time-domain seismograms simply by computing an inverse
Fourier transform from the complex spectrum.
Attenuation may be approximated in these equations by allowing the P
and S-wave velocities to be complex (e.g. Aki and Richards, p. 182):
=
i
2Q

(5.85)
=
i
2Q

(5.86)
These equations are valid for Q

, Q

1. They enter into (5.84) by adding a

small real part to the phase matrix
D
, resulting in an exponential decay in
the wave amplitudes as they travel through the layers.