An investigation is presented of the behavior of time-reversal focusing in soils. Initial numerical models demonstrate time-reversal focusing to be effective in elastic media, including when a large number of scattering objects were present in the medium. When scattering objects are present, time-reversal focusing demonstrates superior focusing ability when compared to other excitation methods such as uniform excitation or time-delay focusing.
Multiple experimental investigations of experimental time-reversal focusing performed in sand evaluate time-reversal focusing effectiveness when multiple near-surface scattering objects are present in the medium. Experimental results demonstrate that time-reversal focusing is effective in the experimental context as well as the numerical models. Further experiments examine time-reversal focusing in more extreme cases where the entire
ballistic wave is blocked, and the only energy reaching the focus point is reflected from scattering objects in the medium. A comparison to other focusing methods demonstrates that under these conditions, most focusing attempts with traditional methods will fail completely while time-reversal focusing does not. Additional configurations of time-reversal focusing examine its effectiveness when scattering is caused by an asymmetrical surface layers. The impact of an asymmetrical or non-uniform excitation array is also examined for time-reversal focusing in the presence of scattering objects.
An investigation of the effects of scattering object geometry on focusing resolution in time-reversal focusing is also presented. Scattering object field density is found to have a strong, but diminishing effect on focusing resolution as the scattering object field density increased. Loss of surface wave energy available for focusing due to mode-conversion is found to be correlated with the density of the scattering object field.
The impact of the weak non-linear nature of the soil on time-reversal focusing is examined through a study of time-reversal focusing behavior for a variety of amplitudes that generate different levels of non-linearity in the soil. This study of nonlinearity is coupled with a study of the impact of noise on time-reversal focusing. It appears that both non-linearity and noise have an impact on time-reversal focusing effectiveness. Further, the loss from these mechanisms seems to be interrelated. Noise seems to enhance non-linear loss in the soil.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/14475 |
| Date | 02 April 2007 |
| Creators | Norville, Pelham D. |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds