 Solution

Choose depth $z$ positive downwards and harmonic time dependence $e^{-i\omega t}$. At normal incidence, P waves and the two polarizations of S waves are independent scalar problems: a P wave uses the longitudinal modulus $\rho {\alpha }^2$, and an S wave uses the shear modulus $\rho {\beta }^2$. In a uniform layer with wave speed $c$ and seismic impedance $q=\rho c$, write velocity and compressive traction asAt a perfectly bonded interface the velocity and traction are continuous. For incident velocity wave amplitude one from medium 1 into medium 2, these two conditions are $1+r_v=t_v$ and $q_1(1-r_v)=q_2{t}_v$. ThusReflection is determined by seismic impedance, not by speed alone. A step to larger seismic impedance reverses the reflected velocity/displacement field waveform; the pressure reflection coefficient has the opposite sign. Its transmitted pressure coefficient is $t_p=2q_2/(q_1+q_2)$. Equal seismic impedance eliminates the reflection even when speed and wavelength change. At a free surface traction vanishes and velocity reflects with coefficient $+1$; at a rigid surface velocity reflects with coefficient $-1$.

The mean elastic-wave energy flux is $\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Re}(P{V}^{\ast })=q(|A{|}^2-|B{|}^2)/2$ for positive real $q$. Therefore the reflected and transmitted energy fractions areA displacement field transmission coefficient greater than one is compatible with conservation of energy; its flux must be weighted by the receiving seismic impedance.

For many layers, use the seismic layer transfer matrix. A layer of thickness $h_j$ has wave phase thickness ${\delta }_j=\omega h_j/c_j$ andThis follows either by eliminating $A,B$ between the two faces or by integrating $V^{\prime }=i\omega P/(\rho c^2)$ and $P^{\prime }=i\omega \rho V$. For the complete stack put $M=M_N\cdots M_1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& B\\ C& D\end{array}\right)$. With upper and lower half-space impedances $q_a,q_b$, an outgoing lower wave satisfies $P_b=q_b{V}_b$. Solving this condition gives the input seismic impedanceHere $T$ is lower-face velocity divided by upper-face incident velocity, including the propagation wave phase. For lossless layers and real frequency, $|R{|}^2+(q_b/q_a)|T{|}^2=1$. This supplies a sensitive check on any spreadsheet or numerical implementation; it is not correct simply to multiply the individual interface transmissions and discard the elastic waves.

The physical reason is repeated wave interference. In one layer between media 0 and 2, let $r_{ij},t_{ij}$ denote the velocity coefficients above and $\delta =\omega h/c_1$. The first transmitted wave has wave amplitude $t_{01}{t}_{12}{e}^{i\delta }$. Every extra round trip supplies $r_{10}{r}_{12}{e}^{2i\delta }$. Summing the geometric series givesIn the time domain the successive arrivals are delayed by $2h/c_1$, producing reverberation. In the frequency domain the same delayed terms produce resonant maxima and minima. For a layer between identical half-spaces of impedance $q_0$,At $\delta =n\pi$ the layer transmits all the incident energy: the internally elastic waves cancel the direct reflection. Halfway between these resonances, a large impedance contrast gives strong reflection. For unequal exterior impedances, a quarter-wave layer with $q_1^2=q_a{q}_b$ transforms its lower load to $Z_{\mathrm{in}}=q_1^2/q_b=q_a$, again giving zero reflection at its design frequency. This matching is narrow-band.

Periodic alternation produces a periodic seismic multilayer stop band. For a cell of two layers with total thickness $d$, the cell matrix has reciprocal eigenvalues $e^{\pm iKd}$, soWhen the absolute value of this expression exceeds one, the infinite periodic medium has no propagating cell mode; a long finite stack has exponentially small transmission. The energy is reflected, not absorbed. Pass bands instead contain oscillatory transmission peaks, becoming more numerous as the stack length increases. Disorder removes the exact cell periodicity but not multiple scattering or frequency-selective interference.

For a concrete reproducible investigation, take $q_H/q_L=4$, equal one-way travel times $\tau$ in both layer types, exterior impedance $q_L$, and frequency coordinate $\nu =2\omega \tau /\pi$. At $\nu =1$ each layer is a quarter wavelength; one cell has diagonal matrix entries $-4,-1/4$. For $N$ cells,It is about $0.22145$ for one cell, $6.10\times 10^{-5}$ for four cells and $9.31\times 10^{-10}$ for eight cells. The infinite-cell stop band is $2\arcsin (0.8)/\pi <\nu <2-2\arcsin (0.8)/\pi$. The accompanying calculation also shows the first transmitted arrivals for a single high-impedance slab: their wave amplitudes are $0.64(0.36{)}^n$ at times $(2n+1)\tau$. Their sum is one, consistent with unit zero-frequency transmission. These calculations illustrate both the spectrum and the pulse train without assuming access to the course's spreadsheet.

Finally, as $\omega \to 0$ for a fixed finite stack, every $M_j\to I$, so the response approaches that of a direct interface between the exterior half-spaces. Equal exterior impedances give $R\to 0,T\to 1$. For wavelengths much longer than a repeating cell, expansion of $M_j$ to first order instead gives an effective medium with averaged mass density ${\rho }_{\mathrm{eff}}=\sum h_j{\rho }_j/d$ and harmonic-mean modulus $M_{\mathrm{eff}}^{-1}=\sum h_j/M_j^{\mathrm{mod}}/d$, where $M_j^{\mathrm{mod}}={\rho }_j{c}_j^2$. Its speed is $\sqrt{M_{\mathrm{eff}}/{\rho }_{\mathrm{eff}}}$, not generally the arithmetic mean of the layer speeds. Attenuation makes the energy balance an inequality, while for a fixed oblique horizontal slowness the scalar SH calculation uses $q_j={\mu }_j{p}_{\beta ,j}$ and ${\delta }_j=\omega p_{\beta ,j}{h}_j$. Oblique P-SV waves require coupled displacement field and traction matrices because of mode conversion at a planar elastic interface. Thick evanescent layers require scattering or impedance recursion rather than exponentially ill-conditioned transfer-matrix products.