A symmetric boundary integral formulation for time–domain acoustic-elastic scattering

A symmetric boundary integral formulation for the transient scattering of acoustic waves off homogeneous and isotropic elastic obstacles is analyzed. Both the acoustic scattered field and the elastodynamic excited field are represented through a direct integral representation, resulting in a coupled system of interior/exterior integral equations that is symmetrized through the introduction of an auxiliary mortar variable. The analysis of each system and of its Galerkin discretization is done through the passage to the Laplace domain, which allows for the use of convolution quadrature for time discretization. Since the operators of the acoustic and elastic Calderón calculus appear independently of each other, the formulation is well suited for non-intrusive numerical implementations (i.e. existing codes for acoustic and elastic problems can be used without any modification).