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org/

Fermat's Principle for Anisotropic Elastic Media

Ralph A. Stephen

ABSTRACT

Fermat'sPrinciplestatesthatfor twopointsA andB in a velocityfield,theraypathwill bethe

trajectory
between A andB alongwhichthetraveltimeis stationary. Formanycasesin isotropic
mediaFermat'sPrincipleseemsintuitivelyobvious. Forexample,in a homogeneous, isotropic me-
diumtheleasttimetravelpathbetweentwopointsisa straightline.In anisotropic mediatheresults
of Fermat'sPrinciple
arelessobvious andit isusefultohavea rigorousproof.In this"tutorialstyle"
paperwe present a proofof Fermat'sPrinciplefor anisotropic elasticmedia.The proofinvolves
relationships
betweenthe slowness andwavesurfaces. The slowness surfacesaredefinedby the
determinant(S),orequivalentlytheeigenvalues (Gin),of theKelvin-Christoffel
matrix.Theproofis
given for bothcases.

INTRODUCTION

Fermat'sPrinciplestatesthatfor twopointsA andB in a velocityfield,theraypathwill bethe

trajectorybetween A andB alongwhichthetraveltimeis stationary. In a homogeneous,isotropic
medium,wherethe velocityfield is independent of locationanddirection,we havean intuitive
feelingthattheraypathis thestraightline,andthequickest trajectory,
betweentwopoints.Fora
homogeneous, anisotropic
medium, wherethevelocityfielddepends ondirection,
therayequations
statethattheraypathswill still be straightlines,butthisis notintuitivelyobvious.
Forexample,considera homogeneous, transverselyisotropicmediumwith theslowcompres-
sionalwavevelocitydirectioncollinearwiththesymmetry axis.Thesourceandreceiverareonthe
symmetry axis(Figure1).Trajectory I alongthesymmetry axiswill be"slow".Sincepropagationin
all otherdirectionsis fasterit seemsreasonable
thata trajectoryoff the symmetryaxis,saytrajec-
toryII whichbendsinthehomogeneous, anisotropicmediamaybefasterthantrajectory I andcould
havea smallertraveltime.Perhapsraypathsin homogeneous, anisotropicmediacanbecurved?
Actuallythisneverhappens.Raypathsin homogeneous, anisotropic mediaarealwaysstraight!
Therayequations reallydocorrespond
to trajectories
forwhichthetraveltimeisstationary.
Thisis
trueforgenerallyanisotropic
media(upto 21 elasticconstants)
andall threewavetypes(thequasi-
longitudinalandthe two quasi-transverse
waves).
In preparingthismanuscript theauthorwasunaware of a proofin theliteratureof Fermat's
Principleforanisotropicelasticmedia.In this"tutorialstyle"papera proofof Fermat'sPrinciple
for
anisotropicelasticmediais given.An anonymous reviewerpointedoutthata proofwasgivenby
EpsteinandSniatycki (1992).Theremayhavebeenotherproofsaswell,possibly in theRussian
literature.
0_/erven
(1972),forexample, bases hisrayequations foranisotropicmediaonthetheory
ofrayseries
ofBabich
(1961,inRussian).
erven)/did
notspecifically
address
Fermat's
Principle
inanisotropic
media.Laterinvestigators,
suchasChapman
andPratt(1992),assumed
withoutproof

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,Woods Hole, MA 02543

255
 256 Fermat's principle

orcitation
thatFermat's
Principle
wassatisfied
by erven)/'s
equations.
It isbeyond
thescope
of
thispaperto comparethe proofof EpsteinandSniatyckito our proof.Their proof is moresuccinct
andelegant.
Ourprooffollows
thenotation
andmethodology
ofMusgrave
(1970),erven)(1972),
andAki and Richards(1980) and may be moretractableto geophysicists.
Rememberthat Fermat'sPrincipleonly requiresthe travel time for a ray path to be locally
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stationary.It can be a minimum, a maximum,or an inflectionpoint where the slopeis zero. For
trajectoriesin homogeneous mediathereis only onestationarypathandit is a minimum.In refrac-
tion seismology,forward branchesof the travel time curve correspondto locally minimum time
paths,reversebranchescorrespondto locally maximumtime pathsandthe causticpointsbetween
forwardand reversebranchescorrespondto zero-slopeinflectionpoints.

THE VARIATIONAL INTEGRAL AND THE EULER EQUATIONS

The proofof Fermat'sPrincipleis basedon the variationalintegraland Euler'sEquations(Jeffreys

andJeffreys,1972;Morse and Feshbach,1953 for example).Considerthe functional

A- A
L O,---z,x
dx. ()

The integrandL is calledthe Lagrangedensityand it is a functionof the functionq),the derivatives

of q)with respectto the parameterof integrationx, andthe parameterx itself.We wantto know the
form that the functionq)must have in order to minimize the integral.This optimal form is deter-
mined from the Euler Equations

For a given LagrangedensityL, the functionalA in equation(1) will be stationaryif q)satisfiesthe

Euler Equationsof equation(2).

Slowaxis-z V2

"-Vx,y

Fast axes in a plane - x,y

Fro. 1- Consider propagation in a homogeneous,anisotropic material in which the wave veloc-

ity in the z direction is slower than in the x-y directions. Can the travel-time between points A
and B on path II be lessthan the travel time on path 17
 Stephen 257

FERMNF'S PRINCIPLE AND RAY PATHS IN ISOTROPIC MEDIA

For isotropicmedia,Fermat'sPrinciplecanbe derivedfrom the EikonalEquation.The proofis

outlined,
forexample,
byAkiandRichards
(1980,pages
93and94),erven);etal.(1977,page61)
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and Pierce(1989, pages375-377). We reiteratethe proof here becauseit providesa useful 'road
map' for the anisotropiccase. In Aki and Richard'snotationthe function above is the vector
functionx which definesthe locusof pointson the trajectorybetweenpointsA and B; the scalar
variablex in equation(1) is ; andtheLagrangedensityis

L=c(x)
1 (dx
d' dx)
d ' (3)
The travel time integralwhich is to be minimized is

T(A,- fsc(x)
1(dx' dx)
A
dc, (4)

and the Euler Equations(for i = 1,2,3) are

where c(x) is the magnitudeof the wave velocity of the mediumalong the trajectory.In many
applications x is the locationvector,an independent variable.Note that in thisusage,x is a depen-
dentvariablewhichis a functionof ( anddefinesthetrajectory.
Thequantity( canbeanyquantitythatvariesmonotonically alongtheray.Forexampleit could
be travel time or distancetraveled.Let's think of it as the projectionof the trajectoryalong the
straightline betweenA andB in Figure2. Note thatwe are still considering just trajectoriesbetween
A and B. Theseare any lines connectingthe two points.They are not necessarilyray paths.Ray
pathswill be thetrajectorieswith stationarytraveltimes.Also the velocityfield, c(x), betweenA and
B is not necessarilyhomogeneous, sodon't thinkof the straightline betweenA andB asthe "correct
answer".

The incrementallengthof the pathdx can be written dl and

a'--=
dg- k,ag} + + rig} - de dg ' (6)
Substitutingthis intoequation(4) givesthe traveltime integralin the familiar form

T(A,
B)- f c(x)
Idxl 'A
(7)
 258 Fermat's principle

The traveltime is the integralof incrementsdx alongthe trajectorydividedby the velocityForthat

increment.The reasonfor writing it in the complicatedform of equation(4), was to put it in the
formatof the EulerEquations. We nowknowthatany trajectory,x(), whichsatisfiesthe Euler
Equationswill havea stationarytraveltime andwill correspond
to a ray path.
In AppendixA we showthatthe Euler Equations(5) reduceto
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ds Vc (x) dl
c(x) ok
wheres is theslowness
vector.Now if we interpret( astraveltime,t, thenall/drwill be the magni-
tudeof the velocityalongthe trajectoryand
ds Vc (x)
d-: c(x) (9)
Also sincethe velocityalongthe trajectoryis dx/dt = c(x)n,

dx
dt
= (x)2s. (10)

Equations(9) and(10) forma coupledsetof ordinarydifferentialequationsthatcanbe usedto trace

trajectoriesbetweenpointsA and B. Sinceequation(9) is derivedfrom the Euler Equations(5),
thesetrajectorieswill be ray paths!Theseare the ray tracig equatios.Givena velocityfield c(x)
and an initial location,x0,and slownessSo,equations(9) and (10) can be usedto tracethe ray path,
definedby x, in incrementsof dr. The slownessvectors is an additionalmemoryvariablethat is
requiredto keeptrackof the directionof the ray.We havederivedthe ray tracingequationsfrom
Fermat'sPrinciple.They can alsobe deriveddirectlyfrom the characteristics of the EikonalEqua-
tion (Kline and Kay, 1965, ChapterII. Section4.).

Fro. 2: A trajectory betweenA and B is given by the solid line. This trajectory can be consid-
ered a ray only if the travel time along the trajectory is stationary with respectto neighboring
trajectories.The element of path length is dx.The quantity can be any quantity that varies
monotonicallyalong the ray. In this case is the projection of the trajectory on the straight
line between A and B.
 Stephen 259
FERMAT'S PRINCIPLE AND RAY PATHS FOR ANISOTROPIC MEDIA

Introduction
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The Kelvin-Christoffelequation,whichis obtainedby substituting

a planewavesolutioninto
theequationsof motionfor ananisotropic
medium(Musgrave,1970,Section7.1, for example),has
beenwritten by variousauthorsas

[F ) - pV215ik]pk-
O, (1 la)

[F},2- pS,]p: 0, (1 lb)

[F;(
s)- GiS,k]p:0, (1 l c)

wherep is the particlemotionvectorandG is a functionwhichsatisfiesthe Kelvin-Christoffel

equationswhenit equalsunity.The correspondingKelvin-Christoffel
matricesare

F{)- Ci/kiH?ll, (12a)

Fi?- ci/vs/sz
, (12b)

F{
)- ai/vx/&
, (12c)

Cij kl 7i
aijkt= and $i : (12d)
p v '

wheresi istheslowness
vector,
%isthephasevector,
v isthephase speed,
ci,isthetensor
of elastic
stiffnesses
andp isdensity
((2erven3,
1972;Musgrave,1970).In eachcasetheKelvin-Christoffel
equations
will havenon-trivialsolutions
whentherespective
determinants
of equations
( I I a)-( 1I c)
are zero

det IFl>- pv2(Si,I-0, (13a)

det IF/ - pS;l- 0, (13b)

det IF)- GSI- 0. (13c)

Thesegivethecharacteristic equations whichcanbesolvedfor theeigenvalues pv2,p andG respec-

tively.Thesearecubicequations for theeigenvaluesandin generalhavethreedistinctsolutions.
To
maptheslowness surface,onecanstartwith a knownslowness directionandevaluatethedetermi-
nantof equation(13a) for thethreeeigenvaluespv2(O[thematrixin equation(12a)) fromwhichone
getsthe phasespeeds, v, andtheslownesses s for eachof thethreewavetypesL, TI andT2. The
locusof the end pointsof the slownessvectordefinesthe slownesssurfaceS(s,J.The slowness
surface,S(s,.),can thusbe definedimplicitly by the functionin equation(13b)
 260 Fermat' s principle

S(sO--derI%ss-p8l- 0. (14)

This equationis convenientfor computingpartialderivativeswith respectto slowness,which we

needto do below.S(sOrepresents all threeslownesssheets.This is the form usedby Musgrave
(1970).
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Nowotherinvestigators
(erven3;,
1972,forexample)
define
theslowness
surface
fromequa-
tion (13c) by individualG,,(s)relatedto S(s,.)by

S(sO- [Gi (s0- 1] [% (s,.)- 1] [G, (s,.)- 0. (15)

EachG,,(sOrefersto a separatesheetof S(s,.).The subscriptm refersto oneof the threeeigenvalues

of the Kelvin-Christoffelmatrixin equation(12c). In generalonly oneof thethreeeigenvalueswill
equal unity at a time and G,, representseachslownesssheetindividually.
Ray equationsfor anisotropic,homogeneous elasticmedia have beenderivedby Musgrave
(1970). However sinceMusgraveonly considershomogeneous anisotropicmaterialshis results
havelimitedapplicability.
Gassman
(1964,Section
12.21)anderven3
(1972,Equation
13)give
the followingray tracingsystemfor anisotropic,heterogeneous,
elasticmedia

dxi 1 OGre
2
dsi 10G,, (16)
dt 2

{erven3;
(1972,Equation
14b)alsoshowed
that

dx i Dj
---- aij kl $1
D '
dsi 10aljks Ds (17)
-- $15s--
dt 2 D

wheretheDi are variouscombinations

of the Kelvin-Christoffel
stiffnesses
fromequation(12c)

D - (['22-- 1) (F3- l) -F3,

D22- (Fl - l) ([-'33- 1) -F

D3B- (r,l - 1) (r22- l) -r 3,

D12- D21- ['lB [-'2-- ['12(FB3-1 ),

Dl3-D3t- F2 ['23- I-'3(['22-1 ) ,

D23- D_
2 - F2 F3- F23(Fi-1 ),

D -trDi- D + D22+ D3B. (18)

Equation(17) is obtainedfrom equation(16) by applyingthe rulesof partialdifferentiationof im-

plicit functions(Kaplan, 1952,Section2-8, for example).
 Stephen 261

Now we assumethat the partial derivativesof S and G,,,are related

8S 1 8G. OS 1 8G.
($i= 2 OsiandOzi= 2AOzi' (19)
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where, is an arbitraryfunctionof x whichwill be evaluatedlater.With thisassumption

the ray
tracingequations(16) become

dt Os '
(20)
dt Oxi

Kline and Kay (1965) give the derivationof similarray tracingequationsfor anisotropicelec-
tromagneticmedia.We will proveFermat'sPrinciplebelowbasedon thefunctionS in rayequations
(20). The proofbasedon the eigenvaluefunctionG,, is obtainedby applyingequation(19).
Now to showthatthe ray pathsdefinedby equations(I 6) or (20) satisfyFermat'sPrinciple,it is
necessary to definea Lagrangedensityandto showthat it satisfiestheEuler'sequationsif andonly
if the ray equationsare satisfied.
Note thatfor isotropicmedian ands arecollinearandreferto thetrajectorydirection.When we
associatespecifictrajectorieswith ray pathsfor isotropicmedia,n ands are collinearwith the ray
directionandenergypropagationdirections.For anisotropicmedian ands are usedfor the slowness
directionand slowness,but will not in generalbe collinearwith the ray and energypropagation
directionand so they shouldnot be usedfor the trajectorydirection.From the discussionprior to
equation(10) the velocityalonga trajectoryin anisotropicmediais dx/dt = c(x, m)m. Here m is the
unit vectorin the directionalongthe trajectoryand evenfor raysm will havea differentdirection
from the slowness s.
Now the argumentsfor the travel time integral from equations(4) and (7) are still valid for
anisotropicmediaand

T(A
' 15')
- c(x m) _
A A
1 Ox
c(x,m) O Ox
O d
.

(21)
The corresponding
Lagrangedensityis analogousto equation(3)

c(x,m) 0 0 '

and the Euler Equationsare analogousto equation(5)

d 0 1 dx dx
(23)
\ Oc
0Zi C(x, m) de d '

Kline andKay (1965, Chapter[[[, SectionI 1) proveFermat'sPrinciplefor anisotropic

electro-
magneticmediaand we follow an analogousapproach.We will follow thesesteps'First we will
 262 Fermat's principle

presentsomewell knownresultsfor the relationshipbetweenthe slownessandwavesurfaces.Sec-

ondwe will derivesomeadditionalrelationships betweenthe slownessandwavesurfaces.Third we
will showthat the ray equationscan be reducedto Euler Equationsof the form of equation(23).
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The Slowness and Wave Surfaces

We will deal with two "surfaces"'the slownesssurfaceS, definedby equation(14) and the wave
surface,W, definedby W(,.) - 0 (Musgrave,1970,Table6.5.3).The wavesurfaceis givenby the
locusof thevectorsr where

,- (s/%)-'m, (24)
and the direction ratios of the wave surface vector are

os
r Osr
isCr
I = mr:
1
3_;7) (25)
We also have that the direction ratios of the slowness vector are

ow

)
3_.
_,
0147 (26)
The wave surfacevectorcan also be written (Musgrave, 1970, Equation7.4.9)

OS

as (27)

Now the direction of the energy flux coincideswith the normal to the slownesssurfaceS
(Musgrave,1970,Section6.4). This is thedirectionof i. So in termsof thediscussion
priorto
equation(21)
dx
dt
= -- c(x, m)m . (28)

The wave surfacevectorand the directionof the slownessvectorare relatedby (Section 7.4 in
Musgrave)
1

= 1-7' (29)
and

s,,- 1. (30)
 Stephen 263

Some Additional Relationships

Whatis in the ray equatios?

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From the first equationin (20) we have

, (31)

or in alternative notation
1

dt dt

' (32)

Now equations(27) and (28) give
1

) os = c(x, m) , (33)
so that
1

a--F
' / 1
OS OS ' (34)
c(x,m)sjg;7ssOS;
This is a scalarfunctionof locationx and it is an acceptablefunctionto apply in the ray tracing
equations(20).

Alternative expressions
for the wave surfaceand slownessvectors

Nowwecanusetheexpression
forX fromequation
(34) andtherayequations
of (20) togetnew
expressions
for the wavesurfacevectorof equation(27)

OS
5:c(x m)
OS OS -- '
(35)
$JOsj Sj Os, (d__x
, d__.x
)'
dt dt

where the dot notation indicates the time derivative, and for the time derivative of slowness

d$i OS
dt OZi
1
dx dx 2
()-
i-''aT OS (36)

c(x,m) as
 264 Fermat' s principle

Relationshipsbetweenthe slownessand wave surjhce vectors

The wave surfacevector is normalto the slownesssurfacefrom equation(27)

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-1

(37)
i--')'8/ where
Since
w(,)-s(s)--o, (38)

the partialderivativesare relatedby

ow OS Os
Oi OSjOi
_ 1 Os
(39)

Now the first term in the bracketsis zero (30) and

ow
$i =
--70i '
ow
jsj
= = (4o)
1

jOW
o '

From equation(40) we get an expressionfor the slownessin termsof the partialderivativesof the
wave surface
ow

$i-- jOl/V
' (4l)
This is the reciprocalrelationto equation(27). The 'sand s in equations(40) and (37) are equal
so we obtainthe otherreciprocalrelationships

OS OW
o
(42)

Spatial derivativesof the slownessand wave surfaces

W is a functionof = andx; andthetotalderivativeof W with respectto x, is

 Stephen 265

dW OW OW 0
dxi= Oxi+ OjOxi
= 0, (43)
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sinceW is identicallyzero.Now usingequation(41) and(42) thepartialderivativeof W with respect

to & is
ow
CXi
(44)

From equations(27) and (30)

(45)

where we used

dS OS OS Osj
dxj= Oxi
+ Osj
Ozi= 0, (46)
for the same reasonas in equation(43). Applying equation(45) to (44) we have the simple and
convenientresultthatthe partialderivativesof W andS with respectto xi are the same

ow os
= (47)
Oxi Ozi '

Euler's Equations for anisotropic media

Earlier we usedthe ray equations(20) to deriveequations(35) and (36). Using equations(41),

(42) and (47), the ray equation(36) can be rewritten
1

d o--7- ,t ,t OW
dt jo_w_w
o c(x,m) (- ow 1

(48)
dxdx)' ow
-.-
OW '
c(x,
m)(./3-) Cxi
 266 Fermat's principle
ow ow
Wewilluse
equation
(35)toderive
expressions
for and
which
can
besubstituted
into
equa-
tion(48) to obtainthe EulerEquations.
Thederivative of thewavesurfacewithrespect
to dxi/dtis
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dW

dJ:i

(49)

OW

a o,:
- , [(x

ow
fromwhich
wegetforO(i

r'r)]a, t t
(50)

Nowthederivative
of thewavesurface
withrespect
to x is,usingequations
(30)and(40)

dW

(51)
 Stephen 267

ot, v
which
gives
us where
wehaveused
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o
1

dt dt

10C jC (52)
= -- +0

- -!
10c

cO:ri
'
andthe secondtermof the secondline is zerobecausetheexpression
in bracketsdoesnotdepend
explicitly on &.
Now puttingthe partialderivativesfromequations(50) and(51) intoequation(48) gives

(53)

andmovingtheroottermon the rightsideunderthe partialderivativebecause

it doesnotdepend
explicitly on & we get

d 0 dx dx _
(54)
t'ai OXi dt dt '

which are the necessaryEuler Equations.Comparethesewith the genericform of equation(23)

with ( replacedby t. Now the ray equations
for anisotropic
mediaexpressed in termsof S from
equation(20) satisfyFermat'sPrinciple.
 268 Fermat' s principle

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

[ would like to thank Doug ToomeyandAndrew Barclayfor posingthe questionin Figure 1. Also
two anonymousreviewersprovidedthoroughandthoughtfulcomments,includingthe referenceto
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the work by Epsteinand Sniatycki(1992) of which I was not previouslyaware.This work was
carriedout underfundingfrom the WHOI/MIT JointProgramin EducationandNSF Grant #OCE-
9301058. WoodsHole OceanographicInstitutionContribution//9699.

REFERENCES

Aki, K. and Richards,P. G., 1980, QuantitativeSeisinology:Theory and Methods- Volume 1, Free-
man, San Francisco.
Babich,V. M., 1961, Ray methodfor the computationof the intensityof wave fronts in elastic
inhomogeneous anisotropicmedium,In: Problemsof the dynamictheoryof propagationof
seismicwaves,editedby LeningradUniversityPress,Leningrad(in Russian),5, 36-46.
erven);,V., 1972,Seismic
raysandrayintensities
in inhomogeneous
anisotropic
media,Geophys.
J. R. Astron. Soc., 29, 1-13.
erven);,V., Molotkov,
[. A., andPgenfk,I., 1977,Raymethod
in seismology,
VydalaUniverzita
Karlova, Praha.
Chapman,C. H. and Pratt, R. G., 1992, Traveltimetomographyin anisotropicmedia- I. Theory,
Geophys.J. Int., 109, 1-19.
Epstein,M. andSniatycki,J., 1992, Fermat'sprinciplein elastodynamics, J. Elasticity,27, 45-56.
Gatmany,J., 1989,A student'sgardenof anisotropy,Ann. Rev. Earth Planet.Sci., 17, 285-308.
Gassman,F., 1964, Introductionto seismictravel time methodsin anisotropicmedia, Pure Appl.
Geophys.,58, 63-112.
Jeffreys,H. and Jeffreys,B. S., 1972, Methods of mathematicalphysics,Cambridge University
Press,Cambridge.
Kaplan,W., 1952,AdvancedCalculus,Addison-Wesley,Reading,MA.
Kline, M. and Kay, I. W., 1965, Electromagnetictheory and geometricaloptics,Interscience,New
York.
Morse, P.M. and Feshbach,H., 1953, Methodsof theoreticalphysics,McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,
New York.
Musgrave,M. J.P., 1970, Crystal acoustics,Holden-Day,San Francisco.
Pierce,A.D., 1989,Acoustics:An introductionto its physicalprinciplesandapplications,Acousti-
cal Societyor'America, Woodbury.
 Stephen 269

APPENDIX- EULER'S EQUATIONS FOR ISOTROPIC MEDIA

What are the two termsin the Euler's Equationsfor isotropicmedia(5)? For the left handside,
the term within the largebracketsis
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dx)

11 dxdx- 0 dxdx
c(x)2
.

2--
c(x) 2 d<; d<; O

(AI)

de d

wheren ands aretheunit vectorandthe slowness vector,respectively,

in thedirectionof thetrajec-
tory at x. Also in derivingequation(A-1) we used

0(5 c(x)-0, (A2)

becausec is an explicit functionof locationx only, not of the derivativeof the functionof location;

1 1

= - n, (A3)
dg dg d dl d dg

from equation(6); and

O:
(x.x)- (A4)
 270 Fermat's principle

For the right handside

1 1

0 1 dx dx
Ox c (x) de c(x) 0xi de de
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= a: (x) (A5)
_ 1 o dl
- (x)
a:,
((X))
where

0 0x 2 2

Oxi (2Xi
2
0 OcOx (A6)
Oz 0
= 2 Oc(1)-O.
Substitutingequations(A-I) and (A-5) into the Euler Equations(5), yields equation(8).