This preprint was accepted May 22, 2006
ABSTRACT: Several semianalytical approaches are now available for describing diffraction of a plane wave by the 2D (two dimensional) traction free isotropic elastic wedge. In this paper we follow Budaev and Bogy who reformulated the original diffraction problem as a singular integral one. This comprises two algebraic and two singular integral equations. Each integral equation involves two unknowns, a function and a constant. We discuss the underlying integral operators and develop a new semianalytical scheme for solving the integral equations. We investigate the properties of the obtained solution and argue that it is the solution of the original diffraction problem. We describe a comprehensive code verification and validation programme.[Full text: (.ps.gz)]