An Inverse Problem for the Acoustics Equations: A Multilevel Adaptive Algorithm

A numerical solution to an inverse problem for the acoustic equations using an optimization method for a stratified medium is presented. With the distribution of an acoustic wave field on the medium’s surface, the 1D distributions of medium’s density, as well as the velocity and absorption coefficient of the acoustic wave, are determined. Absorption in a Voigt body model is considered. The conjugate gradients and the Newton method are used for minimization. To increase the efficiency of the numerical method, a multilevel adaptive algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is based on a division of the whole procedure of solving the inverse problem into a series of consecutive levels. Each level is characterized by the number of parameters to be determined at the level. In moving from one level to another, the number of parameters changes adaptively according to the functional minimized and the convergence rate. The minimization parameters are chosen as illustrated by results of solving the inverse problem in a spectral domain, where the desired quantities are presented as Chebyshev polynomial series and minimization is carried out with respect to the coefficients of these series. The method is compared in efficiency with a nonadaptive method. The optimal parameters of the multilevel method are chosen. It is shown that the multilevel algorithm offers several advantages over the one without partitioning into levels. The algorithm produces primarily a more accurate solution to the inverse problem.