Forward and Inverse Studies on Scattering of Rayleigh Wave at Surface Flaws

The Rayleigh wave has been frequently applied in geological seismic inspection and ultrasonic non-destructive testing, due to its low attenuation and dispersion. A thorough and effective utilization of Rayleigh wave requires better understanding of its scattering phenomenon. The paper analyzes the scattering of Rayleigh wave at the canyon-shaped flaws on the surface, both in forward and inverse aspects. Firstly, we suggest a modified boundary element method (BEM) incorporating the far-field displacement patterns into the traditional BEM equation set. Results show that the modified BEM is an efficient and accurate approach for calculating far-field reflection coefficients. Secondly, we propose an inverse reconstruction procedure for the flaw shape using reflection coefficients of Rayleigh wave. By theoretical deduction, it can be proved that the objective function of flaw depth d(x(1)) is approximately expressed as an inverse Fourier transform of reflection coefficients in wavenumber domain. Numerical examples are given by substituting the reflection coefficients obtained from the forward analysis into the inversion algorithm, and good agreements are shown between the reconstructed flaw images and the geometric characteristics of the actual flaws.