SH wave propagation in joined half-spaces composed of elastic metamaterials

Based on the effective-medium theory, the propagation of a shear horizontal (SH) wave in joined half-spaces composed of elastic metamaterials (EMMs) is investigated. From the dispersion relations, the effects of negative effective-medium parameters on the properties of a SH wave traveling near the interface are analyzed in detail. It is found that a SH wave can always appear and travel along the interface under specific effective-parameter combinations no matter whether the effective transverse wave velocity is imaginary or real. This is significantly different from the classical case (joined half-spaces composed of natural media), and the existence of these SH interfacial wave modes may have important impacts on EMM-based SH wave manipulation, especially wave isolation and object protection.