The Lothe-Barnett's integral formalism, which is a fast and efficient method to determine the velocities of linear surface waves, is extended to solve the surface wave problem of a prestressed anisotropic material. The governing equations and boundary conditions of the wave superposed on a prestressed elastic body are derived by the accost-elasticity, and the equivalent wave propagating constants of the finite deformed body are determined. As long as the equivalent constants are determined, and used to replace the elastic constants in the Lothe-Barnett's integral formalism, the surface wave velocities of the prestressed anisotropic body can be determined.

When a uniaxial compression with magnitude of 28.15 MPa is applied on the single crystal in the [100] direction, the surface wave velocities are varied due to the acousto-elastic effect. It is seen that, the velocities are increased in the uniaxial compression direction and decreased in the perpendicular direction.

The relation between the magnitude of uniaxial compression and the associated variation ratio of surface wave velocities can be determined numerically. Consider the surface wave propagating along [100] direction on the (001) surface of cubic crystals. The velocity variation ratio for the case of uniaxial compression along [100] and [010] directions are determined respectively. It is noted that, the velocity variation ratio in the symmetric axis will be varied linearly with the magnitude of the uniaxial compression applied in any one of the two orthogonal symmetric axes. By the linear relationship, the principal stress within a cubic crystal with (001) orientation can be determined from the measurement of velocities of the surface waves propagating in the two symmetric axes, i. e., [100] and [010] directions.