Full paper in PDF:
$%J. Sabadell, Elastic wave propagation in parallel: the Huygens’ approach, Rev. Mat. Complut. 15 (2002), no. 1, 249–264.%$

Elastic Wave Propagation in Parallel: the Huygens’ Approach
Javier SABADELL
WesternGeco / Saudi Aramco Geophysical R&D Division
X-3575
Dhahran 31311 — Sudi Arabia

Received: October 18, 1999
Revised: May 17, 2001

ABSTRACT

The use of parallel computers makes it feasible to simulate elastic waves throughout large heterogeneous structures, and new domain decomposition methods can be used to increase their efficiency and decrease the computing time spent in the simulation. In this paper we introduce a simple parallel algorithm for the propagation of elastic waves in complex heterogeneous media after a finite element discretization. This method performs more efficiently than classic domain decomposition techniques based on substructuring (Schur complement methods) and iterative domain decomposition. Some numerical examples are shown, including an analysis of the efficiency and performance of the algorithm.

Key words: wave propagation, partial differential equations, parallel algorithm, domain decomposition methods.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 35L05, 86-08, 68Q22.