skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Introduction to the Distributional Finite Difference Method for 3D Seismic Wave Propagation and Comparison With the Spectral Element Method
Abstract We have extended the distributional finite difference method (DFDM) to simulate the seismic‐wave propagation in 3D regional earth models. DFDM shares similarities to the discontinuous finite element method on a global scale and to the finite difference method locally. Instead of using linear staggered finite‐difference operators, we employ DFDM operators based on B‐splines and a definition of derivatives in the sense of distributions, to obtain accurate spatial derivatives. The weighted residuals method used in DFDM's locally weak formalism of spatial derivatives accurately and naturally accounts for the free surface, curvilinear meshing, and solid‐fluid coupling, for which it only requires setting the shear modulus and the continuity condition to zero. The computational efficiency of DFDM is comparable to the spectral element method (SEM) due to the more accurate mass matrix and a new band‐diagonal mass factorization. Numerical examples show that the superior accuracy of the band‐diagonal mass and stiffness matrices in DFDM enables fewer points per wavelength, approaching the spectral limit, and compensates for the increased computational burden due to four Lebedev staggered grids. Specifically, DFDM needs 2.5 points per wavelength, compared to the five points per wavelength required in SEM for 0.5% waveform error in a homogeneous model. Notably, while maintaining the same accuracy in the solid domain, DFDM demonstrates superior accuracy in the fluid domain compared to SEM. To validate its accuracy and flexibility, we present various 3D benchmarks involving homogeneous and heterogeneous regional elastic models and solid‐fluid coupling in both Cartesian and spherical settings.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2418419
PAR ID:
10501312
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Volume:
129
Issue:
4
ISSN:
2169-9313
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. SUMMARY We present a time-domain distributional finite-difference scheme based on the Lebedev staggered grid for the numerical simulation of wave propagation in acoustic and elastic media. The central aspect of the proposed method is the representation of the stresses and displacements with different sets of B-splines functions organized according to the staggered grid. The distributional finite-difference approach allows domain-decomposition, heterogeneity of the medium, curvilinear mesh, anisotropy, non-conformal interfaces, discontinuous grid and fluid–solid interfaces. Numerical examples show that the proposed scheme is suitable to model wave propagation through the Earth, where sharp interfaces separate large, relatively homogeneous layers. A few domains or elements are sufficient to represent the Earth’s internal structure without relying on advanced meshing techniques. We compare seismograms obtained with the proposed scheme and the spectral element method, and we show that our approach offers superior accuracy, reduced memory usage, and comparable efficiency. 
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    Pile driving is used for constructing foundation supports for offshore structures. Underwater noise, induced by in-water pile driving, could adversely impact marine life near the piling location. Many studies have computed this noise in close ranges by using semi-analytical models and Finite Element Method (FEM) models. This work presents a Spectral Element Method (SEM) wave simulator as an alternative simulation tool to obtain close-range underwater piling noise in complex, fully three-dimensional, axially-asymmetric settings in the time domain for impacting force signals with high-frequency contents (e.g., frequencies greater than 1000[Formula: see text]Hz). The presented numerical results show that the flexibility of SEM can accommodate the axially-asymmetric geometry of a model, its heterogeneity, and fluid-solid coupling. We showed that there are multiple Mach Cones of different angles in fluid and sediment caused by the difference in wave speeds in fluid, a pile, and sediment. The angles of Mach Cones in our numerical results match those that are theoretically evaluated. A previous work 18 had shown that Mach Cone waves lead to intense amplitudes of underwater piling noise via a FEM simulation in an axis-symmetric setting. Since it modeled sediment as fluid with a larger wave speed than that of water, we examined if our SEM simulation, using solid sediment–fluid coupling, leads to additional Mach Cones. Because this work computes the shear wave in sediment and the downward-propagating shear wave in a pile, we present six Mach Cones in fluid and sediment induced by downward-propagating P- and S-waves in a pile in lieu of two previously-reported Mach Cones in fluid and sediment (modeled as fluid) induced by a downward-propagating P-wave in a pile. We also showed that the amplitudes of the close-range underwater noise are dependent on the cross-sectional geometry of a pile. In addition, when a pile is surrounded by a solid of an axially-asymmetric geometry, waves are reflected from the surface of the surrounding solid back to the fluid so that constructive and destructive interferences of waves take place in the fluid and affect the amplitude of the underwater piling noise. 
    more » « less
  3. Motivated by applications to fluid flows with conjugate heat transfer and electrokinetic effects, we propose a direct forcing immersed boundary method for simulating general, discontinuous, Dirichlet and Robin conditions at the interface between two materials. In comparison to existing methods, our approach uses smaller stencils and accommodates complex geometries with sharp corners. The method is built on the concept of a “forcing pair,” defined as two grid points that are adjacent to each other, but on opposite sides of an interface. For 2D problems this approach can simultaneously enforce discontinuous Dirichlet and Robin conditions using a six-point stencil at one of the forcing points, and a 12-point stencil at the other. In comparison, prior work requires up to 14-point stencils at both points. We also propose two methods of accommodating surfaces with sharp corners. The first locally reduces stencils in sharp corners. The second uses the signed distance function to globally smooth all corners on a surface. The smoothing is defined to recover the actual corners as the grid is refined. We verify second-order spatial accuracy of our proposed methods by comparing to manufactured solutions to the Poisson equation with challenging dis- continuous fields across immersed surfaces. Next, to explore the performance of our method for simulating fluid flows with conjugate heat transport, we couple our method to the incompressible Navier–Stokes and continuity equations using a finite-volume projection method. We verify the spatial-temporal accuracy of the solver using manufactured solutions and an analytical solution for circular Couette flow with conjugate heat transfer. Finally, to demonstrate that our method can model moving surfaces, we simulate fluid flow and conjugate heat transport between a stationary cylinder and a rotating ellipse or square. 
    more » « less
  4. In this work, a novel discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for a gas-liquid flow is developed. Simulations of gas-liquid flows are often performed by discretizing time with a predictor → pressure → corrector approach and the phase interface is represented by a volume of fluid (VOF) method. Recently, unsplit, geometric VOF methods have been developed that use a semi-Lagrangian discretization of the advection term within the predictor step. A disadvantage of the current methods is that an alternative discretization (e.g. finite volume or finite difference) is used for the divergence operator in the pressure equation. Due to the inconsistency in discretizations, a flux-correction to the semi-Lagrangian advection term is required to achieve mass conservation, which increases the computational cost and reduces the accuracy. In this work, we explore the alternative of using a semi-Lagrangian discretization for the divergence operators in both the advection term and the pressure equation. The proposed discretization avoids the need to use a flux-correction to the semi-Lagrangian advection term as mass conservation is achieved through consistent discretization. Additionally, avoiding the flux-correction improves the accuracy while reducing the computational cost of the advection term semi-Lagrangian discretization. 
    more » « less
  5. In this work, a novel discretization of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for a gas-liquid flow is developed. Simulations of gas-liquid flows are often performed by discretizing time with a predictor → pressure → corrector approach and the phase interface is represented by a volume of fluid (VOF) method. Recently, unsplit, geometric VOF methods have been developed that use a semi-Lagrangian discretization of the advection term within the predictor step. A disadvantage of the current methods is that an alternative discretization (e.g. finite volume or finite difference) is used for the divergence operator in the pressure equation. Due to the inconsistency in discretizations, a flux-correction to the semi-Lagrangian advection term is required to achieve mass conservation, which increases the computational cost and reduces the accuracy. In this work, we explore the alternative of using a semi-Lagrangian discretization for the divergence operators in both the advection term and the pressure equation. The proposed discretization avoids the need to use a flux-correction to the semi-Lagrangian advection term as mass conservation is achieved through the consistent discretization. Additionally, avoiding the flux-correction improves the accuracy while reducing the computational cost of the advection term semi-Lagrangian discretization. 
    more » « less