Rayleigh wave in micropolar thermoelastic skin tissue subjected to initial stress

The present work investigates the propagation of Rayleigh wave in micropolar thermoelastic biological medium subjected to initial stress. Revisiting micropolar and thermoelastic theory, we incorporate thermal nature to the micropolar theory to obtain basic equations for micropolar thermoelastic biological medium. Using the solutions of basic equations and appropriate boundary conditions, the secular equation of Rayleigh wave is derived. On solving the secular equation, we obtain the speeds of Rayleigh wave in micropolar thermoelastic biological medium. Numerically, the speeds of Rayleigh waves are investigated for particular cases of normal and cancerous human skin tissue. The effect of micropolar couple modulus, initial stress and linear thermal expansion coefficient are observed and depicted graphically for detection of skin malignancy.