Rayleigh wave group velocity in a spherically symmetric gravitating earth model

Abstract

Expressions for kinetic energy, elastic potential energy and gravitational potential energy for the spheroidal oscillations of a spherically symmetric, self-gravitating, elastic earth model have been obtained. Some inconsistencies in the expressions given by earlier authors have been pointed out. The principle of equipartition of energy and the Rayleigh principle have been used to derive a formula for Rayleigh wave group velocity in terms of energy integrals. This formula can be used to compute the group velocity without the numerical differentiation implied in its definition.