An Efficient Singular Superposition Technique for Cavity Detection and Shape Optimization

A method is presented for the efficient solution of the inverse geometric problem of detection of subsurface cavities and flaws using thermographic techniques. Here, a superposition of clusters of sources/sinks with a boundary-element solution of the forward problem offers a numerical scheme that does not require remeshing of the interior geometry as the inverse problem is solved iteratively to detect the flaw or cavity. The approach offers tremendous advantage in reducing the computational burden involved in remeshing and presents a promising technique for three-dimensional applications.