In the present paper, formulas for the velocity of Rayleigh waves in incompressible isotropic solids
subject to a general pure homogeneous prestrain are derived using the theory of cubic equation. They have
simple algebraic form and hold for a general strainenergy function. The formulas are concretized for some
specific forms of strain-energy function. They then become totally explicit in terms of parameters
characterizing the material and the prestrains. These formulas recover the (exact) value of the dimensionless
speed of Rayleigh wave in incompressible isotropic elastic materials (without prestrain). Interestingly that,
for the case of hydrostatic stress, the formula for the Rayleigh wave velocity does not depend on the type of
strain-energy function. ?? 2010 by ASME.
