Method of pulse transmission measurements for determining sound velocities

The purpose of this communication is to describe an alternative arrangement for determining with pulse transmission methods, the propagational velocity of both P and S waves in rocks. The various methods in current use to determine velocities are reviewed by Simmons [1965] and Anderson and Liebermann [1966]. As noted by these authors, sophisticated and extremely precise techniques such as ultrasonic interferometry are available but suffer the disadvantage that specimens of good acoustic quality are required to obtain useful results. For materials of poor acoustic quality, such as rocks, the pulse transmission or ‘time of flight’ method is in wide use [Birch, 1960; Simmons, 1964; Christensen, 1965].