Line-segment ra ks re overy from in omplete boundary data

Amel Ben Abda , Moez Kallely , Juliette Leblondz, Jean-Paul Marmorat x

Abstra t
We are on erned with nondestru tive ontrol issues, namely dete tion and re overy of
ra ks in a planar (2D) isotropi ondu tor from partial boundary measurements of a solution
to the Lapla e-Neumann problem. We rst build an extension of that solution to the whole
boundary, using onstru tive approximation te hniques in lasses of analyti fun tions, and
then use lo alisation algorithms based on boundary omputations of the re ipro ity gap.

Key-words: Geometri al inverse problems, 2D Lapla e operator, ra ks dete tion and re overy,
analyti and meromorphi fun tions, uniform meromorphi approximation

1 Introdu tion
This paper is devoted to the inverse geometri al problem of dete ting and lo ating ra ks in a
material by means of boundary measurements. These problems have attra ted a lot of attention
be ause of their various pra ti al appli ations related to non destru tive evaluation (medi al imag-
ing, tomography, ...). In su h problems, the involved physi al phenomena an be either thermal,
ele tri al, ele trostati , a ousti , or elastostati . We fo us in this work on the Lapla e equation
in the bidimensional ase and, for simpli ity, we sti k to the steady state thermal ontext.
The mathemati al study of this inverse problem was initiated in [17℄ for a single buried ra k in
the 2D situation. The authors proved a uniqueness result for a single buried ra k provided that
two parti ular uxes toguether with the orresponding measurements are available. This result
has been proved for the ase of a perfe tly insulating or ondu ting ra k, whi h are related one
to the other by harmoni onjugation. For questions of uniqueness and stability, we refer to [3℄
and referen es there in.
There are, roughly speaking, two lasses of inversion pro esses.
The rst one onsists in iterative pro esses whi h rely on multiple integration of the involved
partial di erential equation (PDE), hen e are highly time onsuming and usually sensitive to
initial guesses. In [28℄, a very eÆ ient omputational algorithm to re onstru t a linear ra k
inside a homogeneous ondu tor has been performed while in [13℄, the method has been extended
to the re onstru tion of a olle tion of linear ra ks.
The se ond lass of inversion pro edures ontains \quasi-expli it" methods whi h do not require
solving the ba kward problem at all and turn out to have very low omputational osts. Up to
our knowledge there are very few quasi-expli it methods and most of them give qualitative rather
than quantitative results: they give information on the shape and lo ation of the ra k but do not
allow to re over the ra k itself, see [6℄ where tools from meromorphi approximations are used
and a relation established between the poles of the meromorphi approximant and the geometri
defe t, the results being illustrated in the ase of linear ra ks. Another ra k re onstru tion
 ENIT-Lamsin, BP 37, 1002 Tunis-Belvedere, Tunisia. Corresponding author. E-mail:
amel.benabdaenit.rnu.tn
y IPEIT & ENIT-Lamsin, BP 37, 1002 Tunis-Belv edere, Tunisia.
z INRIA, BP 93, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, Fran e.
x
CMA-EMP, INRIA, BP 93, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, Fran e.

1
method is proposed in [12℄, using the fa torisation of the di eren e between the Neumann-Diri hlet
operators of the safe body and of the damaged one. A further te hnique was introdu ed in
[4℄ whi h turned out to be relevant for re overing 3D-planar ra ks both for Lapla e equation
and elastostati systems [5℄. It onstru tively uses the \re ipro ity gap" on ept from whi h
omputation algorithms are dedu ed, see [11℄.
Noti e that all the numeri al works ited above are based on the essential assumption that overde-
termined boundary onditions are omplete, i.e. known on all the outer boundary  of the body.
The present work is devoted to buried line segment ra ks dete tion in 2D bodies from the knowl-
edge of partial boundary data on  . We assume that the measured data uK is given on a subset
K of  (uK being the tra e of the solution of the steady state Neumann heat ondu tion problem
orresponding to the ra ked body). This is a realisti assumption so far as only a part of the
outer boundary of the body is a essible to the measurements. The aim of this work is to obtain
a robust pro edure to re over a line segment ra k in this ase.
We here approa h this in omplete data issue by rst extending them from K to the whole boundary
 , in order then to run existing re onstru tion algorithms from omplete extended data. Observe
however that some are has to be taken in this extension pro ess. Indeed, su h harmoni (or
analyti ) extrapolation issues from K to  are ill{posed and lead to unstable s hemes. More
pre isely, whenever the available data uK does not oin ide exa tly with the tra e on K of a
harmoni fun tion (whi h is likely to o ur for uK is given by orrupted numeri al or experimental
measurements), it will still admits a harmoni approximant on K , but whose norm on  n K
will grow up as the error on K de reases, see e.g. [7, prop. 1, 2℄. This phenomenon a ounts for
the ne essity of adding a onstraint on  n K for a best harmoni approximation problem to be
well-posed on K , the hoi e of the onstraint itself being another issue, see se tion 2.
Our re overy pro edure is thus performed in two steps.
I./ The rst one onsists in nding an extension u to  of the measured temperature uK on
K   , the heat ux  being given on all  . We propose an algorithm related to best uniform
approximation on K by analyti and meromorphi fun tions in , whose behaviour is onstrained
on  n K , as developed in [8℄.
II./ The re ipro ity gap te hnique from [11℄ is then applied in order to re over the unknown
geometry, when it is known to be a line-segment and on e extended solution u is available on the
whole boundary  (from step I.). Here also the pro edure splits into two steps:
i) the host line re overy, expli itly a hieved,
ii) the endpoints identi ation.
In the sequel of this introdu tion, we set up the forward problem and give some indi ations about
step II. of our re overy pro edure issued from [11℄. In se tion 2, we introdu e some tools from
omplex analysis and approximation theory that are needed to solve for step I. of the above
re overy pro edure. Se tion 3 is devoted to the des ription of the algorithms as well as to a
presentation of a dis ussion of some numeri al trials.

1.1 The forward problem

One onsiders the ase of buried ra ks modelled by C 2 simple urves  embedded in a smooth
open set of R2 , being simply onne ted with smooth boundary  , of lass C 1; , 0 <  1.
We pres ribe a heat ux  2 L2 ( ), whi h does not identi ally vanish and satis es:
Z
ds = 0;

where s is the urvilinear abs issa on  . The forward problem is the following:

2
Given ,   and  as des ribed, nd the solution u of :
8
>
>
>

u = 0 in n
>
>
>
>
< u
(1) = 0 on 
>
>
n
>
>
>
>
: u =  on
> 
n
The se ond equation des ribes physi ally the ase of an insulating ra k. This problem has a
unique solution u (temperature), up to an additive onstant. We add the normalisation ondition:
Z
uds = 0:

to insure uniqueness. Under the previous assumptions, we dedu e from the lassi al regularity
results [6, 17℄ that the tra e of u belongs to the Holder C 1=2 ( ), that the heat jump a ross the
ra k: [u℄ = u+ u 2 C 1=2 (), if u denotes the tra e of u on ea h side of .

1.2 The inverse problem

The inverse problem under onsideration on erns the re overy of a linear ra k   by the
knowledge of the heat ux  (input) and the temperature uK measured on a subset K of the
outer boundary of the body, assumed to have a positive measure.
Given , K   ,  and uK , nd   su h that the solution u of (1) satis es: ujK = uK .

In 2D situations, the uniqueness (i.e. identi ability) result for a ra k modelled by a C 2 urve
has been proved in [17℄, provided that two partial measurements, orresponding to two parti ular
uxes, are available.
Assume for a while that step I. has been solved (see se tion 2) and the data uK extended to T,
or that omplete data is available (K =  ). In the ase of a linear ra k or a olle tion of linear
ra ks supported by the same hosting line, one ux together with the orresponding temperature
is enough to insure identi ability, provided that the mean of the indu ed jump of the solution
a ross the ra k does not vanish, see [4℄. Even though the a priori sele tion of su h a ux is
an open question, noti e that it is very easy to he k if this ondition is ful lled a posteriori by
using the over-spe i ed data on  . The proof of this result is onstru tive and gives rise to two
re overing algorithms developed in [10, 11℄ whi h we use here for solving step II.
These re overing pro edures rely on the \re ipro ity gap" (RG) as de ned by the following bound-
ary integral, whi h is ompletely a essible from the over-spe i ed external boundary data:
Z
v
(2) RG(v) = (v u )ds ;
 n
evaluated for elds v harmoni in . By Green's formula, this quantity is related to the unknown
geometry  by: Z
v
RG(v) = [u℄ d ;
 n
where  designates the urvilinear abs issa on . The determination of the hosting line D is
expli itely a hieved via the inversion formula given in [4℄.
The line D being identi ed, the omplete identi ation is done by the determination of the ra k's
endpoints. For this purpose two non iterative pro edures (whi h do not require solving the forward
problem) are proposed in [10, 11℄.
The rst algorithm re onstru ts the jump of the solution on the line D, by expanding [u℄ on some
Hilbertian basis of L2 (D \ ) (for example, Legendre polynomials). The omplete determination

3
of  is given by that of the support of [u℄. The se ond algorithm re onstru ts the ra k's endpoints
by sear hing the minimum of the fun tional e 7 ! RG2 (we ); where e is a titious ra k in luded
in D \ and we is a harmoni eld in ne. We know by the re ipro ity prin iple that RG(w ) = 0,
see se tion 3.1.

1.3 Hypotheses, notations, de nitions

In the following, = D will denote the unit disk of the omplex plane C and  = T the unit
ir le. This is done without loss of generality, for the simply onne ted domain  C an be
onformally mapped1 onto D .
When E  T, we write C (E ) for the spa e of ontinuous omplex-valued fun tions on E while
Lp(E ) designates the familiar Lebesgue spa e for 1  p  1. We let H p  Lp(T) be the Hardy
spa e with exponent p of D onsisting of fun tions with vanishing Fourier oeÆ ients of negative
index. Alternatively, H p is the set of non-tangential limits of fun tions analyti in D whose
modulus has uniformly bounded Lp-mean over ir les entered at 0 in luded in D ; when p = 1,
this simply says that the fun tion is bounded in D . We refer to [16, 18, 19, 20, 27℄ for de nitions
and properties of Hardy spa es.
We denote by d the distan e (indu ed by norm) in L1 (T). De ne RN  L1(T) to be the set of
rational fun tions with no poles on T and at most N poles in D . When E  T, we write C (E )
for the spa e of ontinuous omplex-valued fun tions on E , E for the hara teristi fun tion of
E , and
Lp (E ) = ff; E f 2 Lp (T)g ;
with norm kf kLp (E ) = kE f kLp (T). The on atenated fun tion whose value is equal to f on E
and to h on TnE is expressed as
_ h = E f + TnEh :
f
The modulus of ontinuity of a fun tion f 2 C (E ) is de ned by
!f (Æ) := sup jf (x) f (y)j:
x;y2E
jx yjÆ
For 0 < < 1 xed, introdu e the Holder{Zygmund2 lass:
C (E ) := ff 2 C (E ) ; !f (Æ) = O(Æ )g;
with norm
kf k := kf kL1(E) + sup !fÆ(Æ) :
Æ>0
We de ne the separable Holder{Zygmund lass  (E ) to be the subspa e of those fun tions f in
C (E ) su h that
!f (Æ)
Æ
! 0 as Æ ! 0:
We will use the following subsets:
+ (E ) := ff 2  (E ) ; f  0g;
+;0 (E ) := ff 2 + (E ) ; f > 0 ex epted at boundary points of E where f = 0g:
In the sequel, K denotes a stri t subset of T of positive Lebesgue measure, as well as its omple-
mentary set TnK . We nally introdu e
M := fM 2 L1(T n K ) ; M  0 a:e: on T n K g;
M := fM 2 M ; inf TnK M > 0g:
1
Whenever the boundary  is a C 1; Jordan urve, the onformal transformation admits a C 1; extension up
to the boundary  , [14℄.
2
Also ommonly alled Lips hitz lass.

4
2 Data extension
In the framework of the unit disk, system (1) an be written as:
8
>
>
>

u = 0 in D n ;
>
>
>
>
< u
(3) = 0 on ;
>
>
n
>
>
>
>
: u =  on
> T;
n
for a ux  2 L2 (T) whi h satis es Z
 d = 0;
T
and with the normalisation ondition Z
u d = 0 :
T
Given a fun tion uK (built from measurements) on K  T, the inverse problems onsists in
determining   D su h that the solution u to (3) veri es:
ujK = uK :
In order to solve our rst identi ation step I. and to extend the available data uK to the whole
outer boundary T, harmoni onjugation allows to express this issue in the framework of analyti
fun tion theory and Hardy spa es, where appropriate approximation te hniques will be used.

2.1 Harmoni onjugation and analyti fun tions

The solution u to the dire t problem being harmoni in D n, there exists a fun tion U analyti
in D n su h that u = Re U . Up to an additive imaginary onstant, it is de ned by
U = u + iue ;
the fun tion ue being the harmoni onjugate of u, see e.g. [2, se tion 4.6.1℄. As usual, u and ue
are linked on the boundary T by the Cau hy-Riemann equation:
 ue u
= :
 n
It follows from (3) that this de nes a harmoni single-valued fun tion ue in D n, up to an additive
onstant whi h an be xed by adding the ondition ue(a) = 0, at some point a = eia of T. Hen e,
for  = ei 2 T, Z
ue(e ) = (ei ) d :
i
a
Here, the fun tion Z
(4) U ( ) = uK ( ) + i (ei ) d ;
a
is known on K be ause u is measured there while Im U = ue is available (by omputation) on the
whole of T. Regarding smoothness on the boundary, Privalov or Carleson-Ja obs theorems [9, 18℄
ensure that harmoni onjugation preserves Holder type regularity. By hypothesis, ue, thus also u
and U , belong to C 1=2 (T)   (T), < 1=2. Also, the fun tion U is Holder smooth in D n  and
belongs to Hardy lasses of fun tions analyti and bounded in D n , while the temperature jump
[u℄ 2 C 1=2 (). In fa t, it holds that:
Z
1 [u℄( )
(5) U (z ) = d + g(z ) ; 8 z 2 D n  ;
2i  z 
5
for some fun tion g 2 H 1 = H 1(D ), see [6℄. The inverse problem an then be formulated as
follows:
being given Re U on K and Im U on T, lo ate the singularities  of the fun tion U in D .

As indi ated above, we propose a two-stage resolution method. The rst step onsists in nding
an extension of U (or Re U ), whi h is known on K , to the whole boundary T. From exa t data
on K , su h an extension is unique in Hardy lasses of D n , the subset K  T being of positive
measure. However, truly available data orrespond to experimental or numeri al measurements
and may be orrupted by noise or errors. In order to ensure both well-posedness and robustness
of the re overy pro ess, we handle it as a onstrained approximation problem in Hardy lasses,
rather than as an extrapolation one.
We des ribe in the following a omputation s heme for some approximant UN to U on K , whi h
is robust in Holder lasses, and gives the extension we are looking for. It relies on the uniform ap-
proximation of a given fun tion on K by fun tions that are meromorphi in D (whose singularities
are poles) and bounded on T. This is detailed in se tions 2.2, for K = T, and 2.3, for K  T.

2.2 Adamjan-Arov-Krein problems

It is the following extremal problem of best uniform meromorphi approximation on T. Being
given some fun tion f 2 L1(T), we want to nd a best approximant gN to f in L1(T)-norm
among the set of fun tions meromorphi with at most N poles in D and bounded near T, whi h
oin ides with H 1 + RN , see [8℄.
Re all that a Blas hke produ t of degree m is a rational fun tion of the form
m
Y z aj
b(z ) = ei' ;
j =1
1 aj z

where ' is real and the aj are omplex numbers of modulus less than 1. Su h fun tions belong
to H 1 , are in fa t analyti on the losed disk and have modulus 1 on T, see [18℄. For any integer
N  0,
H 1 + RN = fb 1 g : b ; g 2 H 1 ; b a Blas hke produ t of degree  Ng :
Problem 1 (AAK) Let f 2 L1(T). Find gN 2 H 1 + RN su h that
kf gN kL1(T) = g2Hmin
1 +R
kf gkL1 (T):
N

This issue, originally handled in [1℄, has also been onsidered in [18, 24, 25, 26, 29℄, among others.
It is known that problem (AAK) admits a unique solution if f 2 H 1 + C (T). In this ase, the
solution is given by:
f N
(6) gN = f ;
N
where f is the Hankel operator with symbol f de ned by:

f : H 2 ! H 20 ; fv = PH 20 (f v);

if H 20 denotes the subspa e of L2 (T) orthogonal to H 2 ( onsisting in fun tions analyti outside
D ), PH 20 the orthogonal proje tion from L2(T) onto H 20, and if N is the (N + 1)th singular ve tor
of f . Moreover, the error is ir ular: jf gN j = N a.e. on T, N being the (N + 1)th singular

6
value of f . Whenever f 2 H 1 + C (T), the operator f is ompa t and the so- alled S hmidt
pair (N ; N ) is equivalently determined by the eigenvalues and eigenfun tions of f f :
 f N = 2 N :
f N
For rational symbols f 2 H 1 + C (T), f has nite rank and the above pro edure is onstru -
tive. The following ontinuity property show that it remains generi ally e e tive when f an
be approximated by rationals in Holder lasses. Let us de ne the asso iated best approximation
operator:
AN : H 1 + C (T) ! H 1 + RN : AN (h) = gN :
Theorem 1 ([25℄) Let f 2  (T). The restri tion to separable H older lasses  (T) of the best
approximation operator AN is ontinuous for the Holder norm at f whenever the (N +1)th singular
value N ( f ) has multipli ity 1. In other words, if (hn )n0 is a sequen e of  (T) fun tions su h
!1 khn f k ;T = 0, then
that nlim
lim kA (h ) AN (f )k ;T = 0:
n!1 N n
This ontinuity result is generi in Holder lasses, for the subset of those f 2  (T) whose asso-
iated Hankel operator has simple singular values is dense in  (T ), as established in [8, or. 2℄.
Observe however that AN : H 1 + C (T) ! H 1 + RN is dis ontinuous, ex epted at fun tions
that already belong to H 1 + RN , see [23℄.
Ba k to the inverse problem, in ase of omplete boundary data K = T, the fun tion f = U is
available from (4) on the whole boundary and belongs to  (T), < 1=2. The poles of the best
meromorphi approximant gN = AN (f ) to f provide a dis rete approximation of the ra k  in
some weak sense. Links between U , , and the lo alisation of the poles of best meromorphi or
rational approximants are deeply studied in [6, 22℄.

2.3 Bounded extremal problems

In the present situation, we are provided with in omplete data on a stri t part K  T of the
boundary, a essible to measurements, as in se tion 2.1. Assume that both K and T n K have
positive Lebesgue measure. Given
Z
f = U = uK + i (ei ) d ;
a
on K , the issue of nding an extension to T an be onstru tively approa hed as a bounded ex-
tremal problem, if some information is also available on Tn K . We now turn to the study of these
extremal problems before being ba k to the inverse problem in se tion 2.4.
Let 2 L1(TnK ) and M 2 M, and
DM; = fh 2 L1(TnK ); jh j  M a.e. on TnK g:
Problem 2 (BCP) Given f 2 L1 (K ), 2 L1(TnK ), M 2 M,and N  0, nd hN 2 DM;
su h that:
d(f _ hN ; H 1 + RN ) = min d(f _ h; H 1 + RN ) = N (f _ ; M ):
h2DM;
The issue here is to nd an extension hN 2 DM; of f whi h ensures that the extended fun tion
f _ hN is as lose as possible to the set H 1 + RN of meromorphi fun tions bounded on T. This
is the main subje t of [8℄ where the following result is established. Introdu e the set:
B N = fg 2 H 1 + RN ; jg
M; j  M a.e. on TnK g;
N = fg ; g 2 B N g:
and the set of its tra es on K : CM; jK M;

7
Theorem 2 ([8℄) If f _ 2 H 1 + C (T) and M 2 M, it holds that:
(i) (BCP) admits a unique solution hN .
N ,j
(ii) When f 2= CM; hN j = M a.e. on TnK .
Moreover, an algorithm for the omputation of the extension hN is available whi h involves the
solution of a bounded approximation problem (BEP). It onsists in nding the uniformly losest
meromorphi approximation to f on K among the fun tions in CM; N .

Problem 3 (BEP) Given f 2 L1 (K ), 2 L1 (TnK ), and M 0 2 M, nd gN 2 B N 0 su h that: M;

(7) kf gN kL1(K ) = min kf gkL1 (K ) = N (f _ ; M 0 ):

N g2BM 0 ;

When f _ 2 H 1 + C (T) and M 0 2 M , existen e and uniqueness of the solution gN are es-
N 0 : jf g j =
tablished in [8, thms 2, 5℄, as well as the ir ularity properties if f 2= CM ; N N and
0
j gN j = M a.e. on K and TnK , respe tively. When approximating in K , the addition of a
onstraint on T n K is ne essary in order to avoid unstable behaviour of the approximants and to
ensure well-posedness of (BCP) and (BEP), see [7, prop. 2℄.
Problems (BCP) and (BEP) an be impli itly formulated as (AAK) and this provides a way to
solve them. For  2 L1 (T) with positive values su h that log  2 L1 (T), de ne the outer H 1
fun tion w of modulus equal to  a.e. on T [16, 18, 20, 27℄:
Z
1 eit + z
w (z ) = exp f log (eit )dtg:
2 T eit z
If inf T  > 0, then w is invertible in H 1 and w 1 = w1= . When f _ 2 H 1 + C (T), M 2 M,
and f 2= CM;N , we an ompute the solutions h and g to (BCP) and (BEP) as follows from [8℄.
N N
 Get N = N (M ) by solving (AAK) type problems: N (M ) oin ide with the unique 2 R+
su h that
min k(f _ ) w _1(M + ) vkL1 (T) = 1 :
v2H 1 +RN
This gives N (M + N (M )) = N (M ). Let then vN be the unique solution to
min
v2H 1 +RN
k(f _ ) w N1_(M + N ) vkL1 (T) = k(f _ ) w N1_(M + N ) vN kL1(T) ;

 The solutions hN and gN to (BCP) and (BEP) are then given by:
 
M M
hN = vN w N _(M + N ) + 1 ;
M+ N M+ N
gN = vN w N _(M + N ) :
It is also shown that if f _ 2  (T) and M 2 +;0 (Tn K ), then hN 2  (Tn K ) and gN 2  (T):
both the data and the approximants belong to Holder lasses where the pro edure is e e tive and
generi ally robust.

2.4 Ba k to data extension

As indi ated above, the addition of a onstraint on T n K is ne essary to ensure well-posedness
of (BCP) and stability of the extension UN of U to T. In the framework of the present inverse
problem, the ux  is known on the whole boundary T where it determines Im U . It would thus be
natural to ask Im UN to be lose to Im U on T n K . However, this is not enough for the extension

8
/ approximation problems to be well-posed, in uniform norm (although su h a onstraint an be
handled in H 2 , [21℄). Nevertheless, one an onsider the fun tion
F = exp(i U );
whi h is still analyti in D n and known on K , while it veri es on T:
jF j = j exp(iU )j = exp( Im U ) :
Hen e, the onstraint Z
Im U = ;
an be expressed on the modulus of F :
Z
jF j = exp ( ) :

The problem now be omes that of determining an extension of F to the whole T whose modulus is
onstrained on Tn K . This an now be done
R by looking for a solution hN to problem 2 asso iated
to f = F on K , = 0 and M = exp ( ) on T n K , for N  0. Finally, UN = i log hN , with
an appropriate determination, gives an extension of U to T.

3 An algorithm for ra ks identi ation

3.1 Des ription of the s heme
Assume that K is an ar of T and let K " K be a stri t subset of K , with K n K " of small
Lebesgue measure, say " > 0. Let also , 0 < < 1=2. We propose the following identi ation
algorithm for an line segment ra k   D .
0. From the data  on T,  2 L2 (T), and uK on K , get
 R
F = exp (i U ) = exp i (uRK + i ) in  (K " );
M = jF j = exp ( ) in + (TnK " ):
Build a polynomial P0 that vanishes at order one at the endpoints z" of K " but not on TnK " .
1. Fix N > 0. Compute the solution hN to problem (BCP) asso iated to F0 = P0 F 2  (K " ),
M0 = jP0 j M 2 +;0 (TnK " ), and = 0 (when e F0 _ 2  (T)), using the pro edure developed
in [8℄ and brie y re alled in se tion 2.3:
i) Build a rational approximant r to F0 _ 0 in  (T).
ii) Find the unique > 0 su h that the (N + 1)th singular value N of the Hankel operator
with symbol r w _1( +M0 ) veri es:
 N ( ) = 1:
iii) Compute then the AAK approximant vN to rw _1( +M0 ) in H 1 + RN given by (6) :
N
vN = rw _1( +M0 ) ;
N
where N denotes the singular ve tor of asso iated to N . For points ii) and iii), one an use
lassi ally available singular value de omposition pro edures.
iv) On TnK " , ompute
M0 M0 N
hN = v w + r=r w _( +M0 ) :
+ M0 N _( +M0 ) + M0 + M0 N

9
2. Be ause jhN j = M0 = jP0 j M > 0 on TnK " , the fun tion hN =P0 remains bounded (by M ) and
smooth on the losure of TnK " . Moreover, it does not vanish on TnK  TnK " where its argument
is thus also smooth. On TnK , we then take
 
h
UN = i log N ;
P0
and    
h h
uN = Re UN = i log M 1 N = arg M 1 N :
P0 P0
This de nes uN up to 2 k, and the integer k an now be hosen so that uN and uK are as lose
as possible at the endpoints of K . The fun tion UN = uK _ uN furnishes an extension of the data
to the whole T and an approximate solution to (3). This solves for step I.
3. Apply the (RG) algorithm introdu ed in se tion 1.2, see [11℄, for the ra k's omplete deter-
mination with the extension UN issued from the previous step 2.. that is:
i) Re over the hosting line D equation by the determination of its normal unit ve tor n and the
position with respe t to n . Let us designate by (vk )k=1;2 the harmoni elds vk (x1 ; x2 ) = xk ,
where x1 ; x2 designate the Cartesian oordinate in R2 , denoting Lk = RG(vk ), we evaluate Lk via
the boundary integral (2) using u = UN . The omponents of n are therefore given by:
L
p 2 k 2 ; k = 1; 2 :
L1 + L2
Orthogonally to n , the lo ation of D is given by the onstant :
RG(p) 1
p 2 2 ; where p(x1 ; x2 ) = (x22 x21 ) :
L1 + L2 2
ii) We de ne the fun tion:
J : (xa ; xb ) 7! RG2(w~ ) ;
xa and xb being the abs issa in D of the endpoints a and b of the \ titious" ra k ~ , with
we (z ) = Imf(z a)1=2 (z b)1=2 g ; z 2 n e :
The lo ation of  on the hosting line D being a hieved as follows:
1. Give an initial guess (x0a ; x0b ) in D.

2. Find xka+1 su h that:

J (xka+1 ; xkb ) = min J (; xkb )
1   2
3. Find xkb +1 su h that:
J (xka+1 ; xkb +1 ) = min J (xka+1 ;  ):
 2 1

Above, the onstants 1 and 2 are adjusted in order to ensure that the line segments (; xkb )
and (xka+1 ;  ) are ontained in D \ D ; we use the \golden number" method to minimise the
one variable fun tions.

4. Evaluate the distan e between (xka+1 ; xkb +1 ) and (xka ; xkb ) in D. If this distan e is small
enough, then ~   and therefore (xka+1 ; xkb +1 ) are ( lose to) the endpoints of  on D; else,
go ba k to step 2. with k k + 1.
This solves for step II.

10
3.2 Numeri al results
In this se tion, we present the numeri al tests of the above algorithms, for data ompletion and
ra k identi ation.
The input data are numeri ally simulated. On the unit disk D deprived of an interior segment 
that represents the ra k, one solves Lapla e equation
u = 0 using a nite elements method.
As in (3), the ra k  is assumed to be perfe tly insulating and the heat ux  is imposed on T
by a Neumann type ondition on the boundary. One hooses here:

= 1 on [0; )
1 on [; 2 )
This makes it possible to obtain the measurement uK of the solution on the part K of the boundary
T assumed to be a essible to measurements. We take K = [ 2 ; 32 ℄ ex epted for some tests, for
whi h we will expli itely hoose a di erent subset K . One an then apply the pro edure su h
as it is des ribed in se tion 3.1. The approximation algorithm in H 1 + RN (steps 0. to 2.) is
developed with Matlab, the algorithm (RG) { for the identi ation of  from ompleted data
(step 3.) { with Fortran.
Figure 1 represents the various steps of the development of this pro edure. The diagram (1.1)
shows the temperature on T and the asso iated primitive of the ux. We represent in (1.2) the
level-lines of the solution u. We emphasise on the fa t that only the tra e uK on K of the
temperature is assumed to be known for the algorithm to be run. Figure (1.3) shows Nyquist
diagram of the fun tion F0 on K , whi h is the parametrised urve (Re F0 (ei ); Im F0 (ei )), for
 2 K . Figure (1.4) shows the onstraint M0 on TnK . The approximation in H 1 + RN then
provides the fun tion F0 _ hN on all the ir le T; its Nyquist diagram is plotted in gure (1.5).
Here N = 38 and  is the segment [0; 0:4℄. The diagram (1.6) shows the fun tion uN re onstru ted
on T n K with " = 0; note the \bad" behaviour at the ends of K , due to the division by P0 whi h
vanishes in these points. On the other hand, the introdu tion in the algorithm of a parameter
" > 0 makes it possible to al ulate uN only suÆ iently far from the zeroes of P0 (lo ated on K " ,
at distan e " from T n K ), and provides a better solution represented by the diagram (1.7). Here
" is equal to 5% of the Lebesgue measure of K , the error made on T n K ompared to the true
fun tion u is lower than 3% in uniform norm and to 2% in L2 norm. Finally, the (RG) algorithm
furnishes the lo ation of the ra k  as indi ated in the test (1.8), where we obtain a satisfa tory
result.

11
 pb_2d
Temperature
1 Temperature 1.23895

int.de.flux 1.11492

0.990884

0.866851

0.742818
0 0.618785

0.494752

0.370719

0.246686

0.122653
-1
-0.00138019

-0.125413

-0.249446

-0.373479
-2 -0.497512

-0.621545

-0.745578

-0.869611

-0.993644
-3
-1.11768
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
(1.1) (1.2)
(1.3) Experimental data (1.4) Contrainte Mo
50 6

40

5
30

20
4

10

0 3

−10

2
−20

−30
1

−40

(1.3) (1.4)
−50 0
−20 −10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 −2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

(1.5) Final matching (Nyquist): N=38 (1.6) Reconstruction of unknown data (eps=0)
50 2

40
1.5

30
1
20

0.5
10

0 0

−10
−0.5

−20
−1
−30 known
unknown
−1.5 compl
−40

(1.5) (1.6)
−50 −2
−20 −10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

(1.7) Reconstruction of unknown data

1.5 1
K
known T-K
unknown actual crack
1 compl
recons. crack
0.5
0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5

−1

-1
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(1.7) (1.8)
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 1: Data ompletion and ra k identi ation.

Sensitivity to poles number N

Although the error N in problem (BCP) de reases to zero as N in reases, the proof of some
onvergen e result of uN to u on T n K as N ! 1 is not yet available and remains under
study. However, numeri al omputations show that, as N in reases, the error on T n K between
the extended fun tion and the a tual one de reases, in the present ase. In gure 2, we show the

12
behaviour of u8 and u38 with the orresponding re onstru ted ra k. The value of N with respe t
to N is plotted in the left pi ture of gure 3. For N  30, N  10 3 , and we also get good
approximations on T n K , see the relative errors there in the right plot of gure 3, for uniform
and L2 norms. Observe that, due to numeri al pre ision on the omputation of singular values,
the ratio N +1 = N be omes almost equal to 1, when N in reases. This furnishes the largest value
of N for whi h these omputations are relevant.
Reconstruction of unknown data (N=8)
4
1
K
T-K
3 actual crack
recons. crack

2 0.5

0
0 known
unknown
compl
−1
-0.5

−2

−3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 (a)
Reconstruction of unknown data (N=38) 1
3.5 K
T-K
actual crack
3 recons. crack
0.5

2.5

0
2

1.5
-0.5

1
known
unknown
compl
-1
0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(b)

Figure 2: Re onstru tion from N = 8 (a), and N = 38 (b).

−3
x 10
4
error−inf
120
error−L2

100
3

80
%

2
60

40

20

0 0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
N N

Figure 3: Completion error, with respe t to N .

Behaviour with respe t to 

In the following, we keep N = 38. Figure 5 shows a ase where the ra k  is not supported by

13
the real line while, in gure 4, the ra k is lo ated near the boundary T of the domain, in two
di erent situations for the relative positions of  and K . In the rst one, K = [ 2 ; 32 ℄ as before
and  is lose to the a essible part K ; in the se ond one, K = [ 2 ; 2 ℄ and  is lose to T n K
where the solution is to be extended. In both ases, the results are satisfa tory.

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
known
actual crack
1
unknown recons. crack
compl
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5

−1

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 T-K
K
known actual crack
1
unknown
compl
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5

−1

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Figure 4: Cra k  lose to K , to T n K .

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
known actual crack
unknown recons. crack
1 compl
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5

−1

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Figure 5: Cra k  lo ated outside R.

Behaviour with respe t to K
In gure 6, two plots show the sensitivity with respe t to the amount of available data. These
error are plotted a ording to the ratio of provided data (mes(K )=mes(T)). In the left plot,
the errors made on T n K between uN and the a tual u are represented in uniform and L2

14
norms. In the right plot, the error d is the distan e between the true ra k and the re onstru ted
one; given two straight ra ks (AB ) and (A0 B 0), their distan e is given by: d(AB; A0 B 0 ) =
min 12 (d(A; A0 ) + d(B; B 0 )) ; 12 (d(A; B 0 ) + d(B; A0 )) . Figure 7 gives the re onstru tion from
pres ribed data on 1/3 the external boundary (a), and on 1/6 the external boundary (b).

Reconstruction of unknown data Reconstruction of the crack

15 0.4

error−inf
error−L2
0.3
10
Error(%)

Error(d)
0.2

5
0.1

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
data data

Figure 6: Errors w.r.t. the amount of pres ribed boundary data.

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
unknown
−1 compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(a)
1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl
-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(b)

Figure 7: Re overy from data on smaller parts K of the external boundary.

Figure 8 shows that the re onstru tion is indeed sensitive to the pres ribed data lo ation K . The
re onstru tion is improved if the available data lo ation is relevant to the ra k, meaning that
K may apture the eld variations indu ed by . The sensitivity of this re onstru tion s heme

15
depends on the amount of available data and de reases as the length of K in reases. The rst
numeri al re onstru tion has been run with the ar K = [ 3 ; 43 ℄; for the others, K is rotated.
1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
unknown
−1 compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

1
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1
recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Figure 8: Sensitivity to the pres ribed data lo ation K .

Robustness

Let us re all that our experiments are all performed on syntheti data. It is our hope to eventually
try our identi ation pro edure on a tual experimental data. To go towards a re onstru tion based
on real data, we fo us in this last se tion on simulated noisy data.
Here, an additive noise (random from Matlab) omes in to perturb the given data. Figures 9,
10 and 11 show the result for noises whose relative uniform norms on K = [ 2 ; 2 ℄ (with respe t
to that of u) are equal to 2%, 5% and 10%, respe tively. The tests indexed by (a) represent the
results obtained from these noisy data (without smoothing). In (b), a preliminary smoothing step
is added to the step 0. of the algorithm, using ubi splines. The results are lose enough to
that obtained from data without noise (the ra k is re overed in a satisfa tory way for small noise
levels). They show that the whole s heme arries some robustness with respe t to perturbation.

16
Con erning the extension step I. of the pro edure, this is in a ordan e with the (generi ) onti-
nuity result in Holder lasses from [8℄.

Reconstruction of unknown data 1

1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1 recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(a)
Reconstruction of unknown data
1.5
1
K
T-K
1 actual crack
recons. crack
0.5
0.5

0 0

−0.5

-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5
(b)
1

Figure 9: 2% noise

17
 Reconstruction of unknown data 1
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1 recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(a)
Reconstruction of unknown data 1
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1 recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5

−1
known
unknown
compl
-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(b)

Figure 10: 5% noise

Reconstruction of unknown data 1

2 K
T-K
known actual crack
1.5 unknown
compl
recons. crack
0.5
1

0.5
0

−0.5 -0.5

−1

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(a)
Reconstruction of unknown data 1
1.5 K
T-K
actual crack
1 recons. crack
0.5

0.5

0
0

−0.5
-0.5
known
−1 unknown
compl

-1
−1.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
(b)

Figure 11: 10% noise

18
4 Con lusion
Observe rst that the present lass of approximation methods, that allow to extend la king data,
ould be used for solving di erent kind of inverse problems de ned by overdetermined data on a
part of the boundary, su h as identifying unknown geometries or parameters.
It is also worthful to expli it dire tly the (singular) integral obtained in (5) of the solution (1)
to get information about the lo ation of , using the poles of the uniform or L2 meromorphi
approximants of U on T. A tually, the poles of the meromorphi approximant behave in relation
with the endpoints of , as shown re ently in [6, 22℄. The underlying idea is to get a dis retization
of  from the singularities in D of the approximant UN to U . More generally, this an be viewed
as a resolution s heme for ellipti two dimensional boundary values problems whi h no longer
relates on the dis retization of the operator but on the approximation of boundary onditions in
a suitable lass of fun tions (harmoni , for Lapla e operator).
Furthermore, the results obtained in [21℄ allows the extension in the Hardy spa e H 2 with a
onstraint imposed on the imaginary part. This pro edure, followed by a step of rational approxi-
mation, would allow an eÆ ient resolution of the problem under onsideration. Another possibility
would be to substra t from f = U on K the analogous fon tion asso iated to the domain without
ra k. One then deals with a real valued fun tion on T and this raises another extremal problem,
onsisting in approximating a given fun tion on K by the real part of an H 2 fun tion that satis es
some onstraint in T n K .
Note nally that available uniqueness, stability, and identi ation results usually require the
domain to be simply onne ted. However, the re ipro ity gap identi ation pro ess [11℄ does
not require su h an assumption. Moreover, in pra ti e, relevant appli ations on ern the dete tion
and lo ation of ra ks in tubes. From data available on the outer boundary, we an hope to re over
the tra e of the solution on the inner boundary, using approximation in Hardy spa es of ir ular
domains as in [15℄.

A knowledgments
The authors are grateful to the referees for their remarks and suggestions.

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20