Abstract：The propagation characteristics of shear waves in an artificial composite and fissured fine sandstone which have the known elastic structures have been observed by taking shear-vibrated ultrasonic transducers as the transmitter and receiver in laboratory This experiment led to below conclusions: •Two different shear waves occur when shear wave travels along the bedding plane of composite or the fissure of fine sandstonethe polarization of fast shear wave parallels elastic structure (the bedding plane or directional fissure)while the polarization of slow shear wave is normal to elastic structure. •Only one shear wave (fast shear wave or slow one)can be observed when the polarization of incident shear wave (the transmitter or receiver)is parallel or normal to the elastic structurebut in other azimuthal angles,both fast and slow shear waves can be observed simultaneously .The phases of fast and slow shear waves are related to the polari-anon characteristics of transmitting and receiving transducers ,and their amplitudes may be expressed by the trigonometric functions of azimuthal angle and polarization angle. •The comparison between the elastic structure characteristics of the two media shows that they have the same velocity anisotropy but attenuate fast and slow shear waves in different degrees respectively,which indicates that the elastic structure direction of anisotropic medium controls velocity anisotropy,and that the elastic structure characteristic influences on attenuation anisotropy.
