A liquid wedge as generating technique for Lamb and Rayleigh waves

A model is developed to describe the excitation of Lamb and Rayleigh waves by a Gaussian beam incident on a liquid/air/solid corner. Analytical expressions for the displacement fields of the generated modes are derived by applying a mode theory that accounts for the contribution of the reflected waves. Numerical computations illustrate the optimum conditions under which the strongest stimulation of Lamb and Rayleigh waves may be expected.