Numerical experiments on the velocities in aggregates of olivine

The velocities of plane waves in the olivine of Kumazawa and Anderson are computed for 91 independent directions of propagation in one octant defined by the principal crystallographic axes. These solutions permit the formation of various averages of velocity and its reciprocal, slowness. The reciprocal of the mean slowness has the significance of a ‘short-wave’ solution for a quasi-isotropic aggregate and falls within the Voigt-Reuss bounds. Combination of the calculated VP and VS does not yield the correct bulk modulus K. Other methods of averaging and measuring on dunite are compared with these calculations.