Visualizing Ultrasound Sources Using Signal Time Reversal in the Particle Dynamics Model

Abstract

A method is proposed for solving the inverse problem of reconstructing acoustic wave sources from field measurements on some surface using wavefront reversal in the particle dynamics method. In this method, the studied medium is represented as a set of interacting particles (material points or solid bodies), for which classical equations of motion are written. The paper considers the representation of a medium as a set of particles in a body-centered cubic crystal lattice. The case of a linear dependence of the force of attraction of particles on distance is considered. The advantage of this approach is the ability to take into account wave propagation in arbitrarily inhomogeneous media using a single numerical model. The possibility of visualizing two spherical acoustic wave sources in water behind an obstacle has been demonstrated numerically and experimentally, despite the presence of transverse waves in the considered model of a solid body; their influence is negligible in this case. The method was tested experimentally on a soundproof screen with an aperture simulating a sound-emitting object of complex shape. A wave from a point source of short pulses passes through the aperture. Using a receiving acoustic sensor mounted on a two-dimensional scanner, the spatiotemporal distribution of sound vibrations on the water surface was measured. By processing the data using wavefront reversal in the particle model, the image of the aperture in the soundproof screen was reconstructed.