Modeling elastic wave forward propagation and reflection using the complex screen method

Formulation for calculating forward propagation and reflection in a 3D elastic structure based on the complex-screen method is given in this paper. The calculation of reflections is formulated based on the local Born approximation. When using a small angle approximation, the backscattering operator reduces to a screen operator which is similar to the forward screen propagator. Combining the forward propagator and backscattering operator together, the new method can properly handle the multiple forward scattering and single backscattering in a 3D heterogeneous model. Using a dual-domain technique, the new method is highly efficient in CPU time and memory savings. For models where reverberation and resonance scattering can be neglected, this method provides a fast and accurate algorithm. Synthetic seismograms for two-dimensional elastic models are calculated with this method and compared with those generated by the finite-difference method. The results show that the method works well for small to medium scattering angles and medium velocity contrasts.