Elastodynamic single-sided homogeneous Green’s function representation: Theory and numerical examples

Abstract

The homogeneous Green’s function is the difference between an impulse response and its time-reversal. According to existing representation theorems, the homogeneous Green’s function associated with source–receiver pairs inside a medium can be computed from measurements at a boundary enclosing the medium. However, in many applications such as seismic imaging, time-lapse monitoring, medical imaging, non-destructive testing, etc., media are only accessible from one side. A recent development of wave theory has provided a representation of the homogeneous Green’s function in an elastic medium in terms of wavefield recordings at a single (open) boundary. Despite its single-sidedness, the elastodynamic homogeneous Green’s function representation accounts for all orders of scattering inside the medium. We present the theory of the elastodynamic single-sided homogeneous Green’s function representation and illustrate it with numerical examples for 2D laterally-invariant media. For propagating waves, the resulting homogeneous Green’s functions match the exact ones within numerical precision, demonstrating the accuracy of the theory. In addition, we analyse the accuracy of the single-sided representation of the homogeneous Green’s function for evanescent wave tunnelling.