AbstractThe intensity of shear waves in the model of a multilayered stratum, the material properties of which are random functions, is considered. The solutions for displacements and stresses are obtained for one layer and then the formulation is extended to a multilayered stratum through transfer matrices. The solution for a random medium has been compared with the solution for the homogeneous medium. The analysis indicates that the stochastic inhomogeneities are likely to increase the damping in a significant way.