Zoeppritz Equations - Equations

Equations

There are 4 equations with 4 unknowns and although they can be solved, they do not give an intuitive understanding for how the reflection amplitudes vary with the rock properties involved (density, velocity etc.). Several attempts have been made to develop approximations to the Zoeppritz Equations, such as Bortfeld’s (1961) and Aki & Richards’ (1980), but the most successful of these is the Shuey's, which assumes Poisson's ratio to be the elastic property most directly related to the angular dependence of the reflection coefficient.