Computational Vibro-Acoustic Time Reversal for Source and Novelty Localization

Time reversal has been demonstrated to be effective for source and novelty detection and localization. We extend here previous work in the case of a coupled structural-acoustic system, to which we refer to as vibro-acoustic. In this case, novelty means a change that the structural system has undergone and which we seek to detect and localize. A single source in the acoustic medium is used to generate the propagating field, and several receivers, both in the acoustic and the structural part, may be used to record the response of the medium to this excitation. This is the forward step. Exploiting time reversibility, the recorded signals are focused back to the original source location during the backward step. For the case of novelty detection, the difference between the field recorded before and after the structural modification is backpropagated. We demonstrate that the performance of the method is improved when the structural components are taken into account during the backward step. The potential of the method for solving inverse problems as they appear in non destructive testing and structural health monitoring applications is illustrated with several numerical examples obtained using a finite element method.