Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the influence of rotation, initial stress and gravity field on the propagation of Rayleigh waves in a homogeneous orthotropic elastic medium. The government equations and Lame's potentials are used to obtain the frequency equation which determines the velocity of Rayleigh waves, including rotation, initial stress and gravity field, in a homogeneous, orthotropic elastic medium has been investigated. The numerical results analyzing the frequency equation are discussed and presented graphically. It is important to note that the Rayleigh wave velocity in an orthotropic elastic medium increases a considerable amount in comparison to the Rayleigh wave velocity in an isotropic material. The results indicate that the effects of rotation, initial stress and gravity field on Rayleigh wave velocity are very pronounced.