3 research outputs found
Refraction at Media with Negative Refractive Index
We show that an electromagnetic (EM) wave undergoes negative refraction at
the interface between a positive and negative refractive index material. Finite
difference time domain (FDTD) simulations are used to study the time evolution
of an EM wave as it hits the interface. The wave is trapped temporarily at the
interface and after a long time, the wave front moves eventually in the
negative direction. This explains why causality and speed of light are not
violated in spite of the negative refraction always present in a negative index
material.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
FDTD simulation of the GPR signal for preventing the risk of accidents due to pavement damages
It is well known that road safety issues are closely dependent on both pavement structural damages and surface unevenness, whose occurrence is often related to ineffective pavement asset management. The evaluation of road pavement operability is traditionally carried out through distress identification manuals on the basis of standardized comprehensive indexes, as a result of visual inspections or measurements, wherein the failure causes can be partially detected. In this regard, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has proven to be over the past decades an effective and efficient technique to enable better management of pavement assets and better diagnosis of the causes of pavement failures. In this study, one of the main causes (i.e. subgrade failures) of surface damage is analyzed through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation of the GPR signal. The GprMax 2D numerical simulator for GPR is used on three different types of flexible pavement to retrieve the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations in the time domain. Results show the high potential of GPR in detecting the causes of such damage