True amplitude one-way propagation in heterogeneous media

TL;DR

This paper compares two one-way wave propagation models in heterogeneous media, showing that numerical equivalence holds only in smooth media, while discrepancies appear in discontinuous velocity environments.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical analysis comparing two formulations with correction terms, highlighting their differences in discontinuous media.

Findings

Models are equivalent in smooth media

Discrepancies arise in discontinuous velocity media

Numerical correction improves amplitude accuracy

Abstract

This paper deals with the numerical analysis of two one-way systems derived from the general complete modeling proposed by M.V. De Hoop. The main goal of this work is to compare two different formulations in which a correcting term allows to improve the amplitude of the numerical solution. It comes out that even if the two systems are equivalent from a theoretical point of view, nothing of the kind is as far as the numerical simulation is concerned. Herein a numerical analysis is performed to show that as long as the propagation medium is smooth, both the models are equivalent but it is no more the case when the medium is associated to a quite strongly discontinuous velocity.