Diffraction by wedges in acoustic media with velocity and density contrasts

A large number of direct numerical approximate solution methods for forward modelling of seismic waves in media with general material variability have been developed by different research groups, e.g. finite differences, finite elements, and spectral methods. Often the accuracy of these methods has been verified by comparing numerical results with analytic solutions for models with plane interfaces. Flowever, it was the intention with all these numerical methods to be able to handle complicated geologic subsurface structures, including faults with diffracting edges. In a recent paper [1], we have presented a semi-analytic solution method for the 2D problem of scattering of a plane wave by a wedge of arbitrary angle in a purely acoustic, constant density medium with different constant compressional wave speeds inside and outside the wedge.