Inverse problem of the Love wave propagation in elastic waveguides loaded with a viscous liquid

The problem of propagation of Love waves in elastic waveguides loaded on the surface by a viscous (Newtonian) liquid is important in many applications such as geophysics, seismology, investigation of the physical properties of liquids. Love wave energy is concentrated near the waveguide surface, so that Love waves are especially suited to study the material properties of surface layers. In this work, the direct problem and the inverse problem of the Love wave propagation in a layered elastic waveguides loaded with a viscous liquid have been formulated and solved. The inverse problem relies on the determination of the material parameters (e.g., the unknown value of liquid viscosity) from measurements of the dispersion curves of Love waves.