Numerical simulation of 2D wave propagation on unstructured grids using explicit differential operators

Abstract

We present a numerical method to simulate seismic wave propagation on unstructured 2-D grids. The algorithm is based on the velocity-stress formulation of the elastic wave equation and therefore uses a staggered grid approach. Unlike finite-element or spectral-elements, that also can handle flexible unstructured grids, we use explicit differential operators for the calculation of spatial derivatives in each time step. Three types of these operators are used and their particular performance is analyzed and compared to standard finite-difference operators on regular quadratic and hexagonal grids. Our investigations are especially focused on the influence of grid irregularity, sampling rate (i.e. grid points per wavelength), and numerical anisotropy on the accuracy of numerical seismograms. The results obtained from the various methods are therefore compared to analytical solutions. The algorithm is then applied to a number of models, that are difficult to handle using (quasi-)regular grid methods. Such alternative techniques may be useful in modeling the full wave field of bodies with complex geometries (e.g. cylindrical bore-hole samples, spherical Earth) and - due to their local character - they are well suited for parallelization.

Further Information
http://www.eage.nl/pub/magdet.phtml?magid=1&PHPSESSID=fb876ae5b1bd7db45b0cbd1443a33381
BibTeX
@article{id587,
  author = {K\"aser, M. and Igel, H.},
  doi = {10.1046/j.1365-2478.2001.00276.x},
  journal = {Geophysical Prospecting},
  language = {en},
  number = {5},
  pages = {607-619},
  title = {Numerical simulation of 2D wave propagation on unstructured grids using explicit differential operators},
  url = {http://www.eage.nl/pub/magdet.phtml?magid=1\&PHPSESSID=fb876ae5b1bd7db45b0cbd1443a33381},
  volume = {49},
  year = {2001},
}
EndNote
%O Journal Article
%A Käser, M.
%A Igel, H.
%R 10.1046/j.1365-2478.2001.00276.x
%J Geophysical Prospecting
%G en
%N 5
%P 607-619
%T Numerical simulation of 2D wave propagation on unstructured grids using explicit differential operators
%U http://www.eage.nl/pub/magdet.phtml?magid=1&PHPSESSID=fb876ae5b1bd7db45b0cbd1443a33381
%V 49
%D 2001