Virtual acoustics in inhomogeneous media with single-sided access

Virtual acoustics in inhomogeneous media with single-sided access

Wapenaar, C.P.A. (TU Delft ImPhys/Acoustical Wavefield Imaging; TU Delft Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
Brackenhoff, J.A. (TU Delft Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
Thorbecke, J.W. (TU Delft Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
van der Neut, J.R. (TU Delft ImPhys/Acoustical Wavefield Imaging)
Slob, E.C. (TU Delft Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
Verschuur, D.J. (TU Delft ImPhys/Acoustical Wavefield Imaging)

2018-12-01

A virtual acoustic source inside a medium can be created by emitting a time-reversed point-source response from the enclosing boundary into the medium. However, in many practical situations the medium can be accessed from one side only. In those cases the time-reversal approach is not exact. Here, we demonstrate the experimental design and use of complex focusing functions to create virtual acoustic sources and virtual receivers inside an inhomogeneous medium with single-sided access. The retrieved virtual acoustic responses between those sources and receivers mimic the complex propagation and multiple scattering paths of waves that would be ignited by physical sources and recorded by physical receivers inside the medium. The possibility to predict complex virtual acoustic responses between any two points inside an inhomogeneous medium, without needing a detailed model of the medium, has large potential for holographic imaging and monitoring of objects with single-sided access, ranging from photoacoustic medical imaging to the monitoring of induced-earthquake waves all the way from the source to the earth's surface.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2edcfd29-45e8-48e5-8ba3-4201fa8d5069

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20924-x

2045-2322

Scientific Reports, 8 (1)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 C.P.A. Wapenaar, J.A. Brackenhoff, J.W. Thorbecke, J.R. van der Neut, E.C. Slob, D.J. Verschuur