Elastic wave propagation in complex geometries: A qualitative comparison between two high order finite difference methods

TL;DR

This paper compares two high order finite-difference methods for elastic wave simulation in complex 2D geometries, focusing on wave-boundary interactions and material discontinuities, highlighting their similarities and differences.

Contribution

It provides a qualitative comparison of two advanced finite-difference methods for elastic wave equations in complex geometries, which is novel in analyzing their performance on boundary interactions.

Findings

Both methods accurately capture wave-boundary interactions.

Differences observed in handling curved boundaries and discontinuities.

Qualitative insights into method suitability for complex geometries.

Abstract

We compare two high order finite-difference methods that solve the elastic wave equation in two dimensional domains with curved boundaries and material discontinuities. Two numerical experiments are designed with focus on wave boundary interaction, the response of a pressure wave impinging on a circular cavity and the wave field generated by an explosive impact on the wall an underground tunnel. Qualitative comparisons of the results are made where similarities and differences are pointed out.