Surface elastic waves in body-centered cubic lattices

Abstract Surface elastic waves in a monatomic body-centered cubic lattice are investigated using a Born-von Karman lattice model. The model includes central force interactions between nearest and next-nearest neighbors and non-central forces corresponding to angular stiffness terms in the strain energy. A dispersion curve for surface waves is obtained, which lies below the dispersion curve for bulk shear waves. In the long wave approximation, the results match those given by the continuum theory of elasticity which predicts nondispersive surface waves.