From multi-layered problems to multiple two-layered problems: a novel frequency-time hybrid multiple-scattering integral equation solver

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel frequency-time hybrid multiple scattering (FTH-MS) integral equation solver for time-dependent wave equation problems in general multi-layered media, with remarkable scalability with respect to the number of layers $N$. In light of the finite speed of wave propagation, the new methodology provides an innovative multiple-scattering idea of re-modeling the original $N$-layered problem into a sequence of $N-1$ two-layered sub-problems, for which the main advantages lie in that (i) each sub-problem enjoys much simpler wave scattering properties compared with the complicated problem in a multi-layered medium, (ii) it enables to develop high-accuracy solver utilizing Fourier transform and frequency-domain boundary integral equation (BIE) method; and (iii) numerical evaluation of the sub-problems in each multiple scattering step can be parallelized. Both multiplicative- and additive-type strategies are developed and equivalence results, which indicate that the $M$-th order multiple scattering sums can provide equivalent representations of the solutions up to a certain time $T(M)$, are rigorously derived. Owing to the existed result of exponential convergence of the perfectly-matched-layer (PML) truncation for two-layered problem, all the sub-problems is numerically resolved by means of the FTH method based on the Fourier transform and the PML-BIE method whose numerical evaluation is addressed utilizing the Chebyshev-based rectangular-polar solver with high accuracy. Numerical examples are presented to validate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.