A fast single-pass method for solving the generalized eikonal equation in a moving medium (Q6188136)

A fast method for approximating the solution to the generalized eikonal equation in a moving medium is proposed. The first step of the process involves converting the generalized eikonal equation in a moving medium into a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation of anisotropic eikonal type for an anisotropic minimum-time control problem. Then a recently developed Neighbor-Gradient Single-pass method (NGSPM) is modified in such a way that it not only suits the converted Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation but also can be faster than the original NGSPM. The proposed solution technique is shown to be faster and more accurate than a well known Characteristic Fast Marching Method (CFMM), through several numerical examples, provided that the Mach number is not comparable to 1. The authors also show that the numerical solutions obtained from their method are equally good with the solutions obtained using the ray theory, and demonstrate that the viscosity solution is captured accurately even when the Mach number is comparable to 1. A similar conclusion is drawn for 3D problems, as well.