Systems and methods for computationally simulating and optimizing shearography systems are provided. The systems and methods for simulation and optimization avoid ray tracing, and, instead, implement a phase screen approach to image computation. The systems and methods include physics-based surface texture and surface motion simulations, the application of phase screens to computer-generated simulations of shearographic remote sensing, and the inclusion of de-polarization due to multiple scattering and birefringence at a surface being imaged. The systems and methods include further greatly optimize diffraction computations by treating an optical transfer function (OTF) of an arbitrary aperture as a sum of separable OTFs.