Leading-order cross term correction of three-dimensional parabolic equation models

The issue of handling a leading-order cross-multiplied term in three-dimensional (3D) parabolic equation (PE) based models is addressed. In particular, numerical results obtained incorporating a leading-order cross-term correction in an existing 3D PE model, written in cylindrical coordinates, based on higher-order Padé approximations in both depth and azimuth, and a splitting operator technique are reported. Note that the numerical algorithm proposed in this paper could be used in the future to update any 3D PE codes that neglect cross terms and use a splitting numerical technique. The 3D penetrable wedge benchmark problem is chosen to illustrate the accuracy of the now-fully wide-angle enhanced 3D PE model. The comparisons with a 3D reference solution based on the image source clearly show that handling the leading-order cross term in the 3D PE computation is sufficient to remove the phase errors inherent to any 3D PE models that neglect cross terms in their formulations.