Investigating reflections from smooth transition boundaries

John C. Bancroft

Reflections from impedance boundaries are well understood in many scientific applications including geophysics. These boundaries are typically assumed to be a step like function that reflects the energy of all frequencies, and are consistent with geological processes. Reflections from boundaries with a smooth transition do not reflect all frequencies. The purpose of this study is to create a numerical modelling environment that accurately propagates a waveform in a variable velocity medium, with the purpose of evaluating the reflection energy from interfaces that have various transition shapes.