One‐way versions of the Kirchhoff Integral

Abstract

The conventional Kirchhoff integral, based on the two‐way wave equation, states how the acoustic pressure at a point A inside a closed surface S can be calculated when the acoustic wave field is known on S. In its general form, the integrand consists of two terms: one term contains the gradient of a Green’s function and the acoustic pressure; the other term contains a Green’s function and the gradient of the acoustic pressure. The integrand can be simplified by choosing reflecting boundary conditions for the two‐way Green’s functions in such a way that either the first term or the second term vanishes on S. This conventional approach to deriving Rayleigh‐type integrals has practical value only for media with small contrasts, so that the two‐way Green’s functions do not contain significant multiple reflections. We present a modified approach for simplifying the integrand of the Kirchhoff integral by choosing absorbing boundary conditions for the one‐way Green’s functions. The resulting Rayleigh‐type integrals are the theoretical basis for true amplitude one‐way wave‐field extrapolation techniques in inhomogeneous media with significant contrasts.