Abstract: The scattering of a grazing incident vertical shear(SV) wave by surface-breaking cracks(SBCs) is studied using the dynamic photoelastic method,and the photoelastic photographs of the wave fields and the explanatory diagrams are presented.Focusing on the vertical SBC,the credibihty of dynamic photoelastic result is proved directly and indirectly by using finite element numerical simulation and electrical method,respectively.The scattered waves generated by the SBC are closely related to the geometry characterizations of crack and can be distinguished easily from each other,so the length and orientation angle of an angled SBC can be calculated using the arrival times of first-order scattered waves,and the relative errors between measured values and real parameters are all below 6%.