Simulation of Propagating Acoustic Wavefronts with Random Sound Speed

Abstract

A method for simulating acoustic wavefronts propagating under random sound speed conditions is presented. The approach applies a level set method to solve the Eikonal equation of high frequency acoustics for surfaces of constant phase, instead of tracing rays. The Lagrangian nature often makes full-field ray solutions difficult to reconstruct. The level set method captures multiple-valued solutions on a fixed grid. It is straightforward to represent other sources of uncertainty in the input data using this model, which has an advantage over Monte Carlo approaches in that it yields an expression for the solution as a function of random variables.