An implicit FFT-based method for wave propagation in elastic heterogeneous media

TL;DR

This paper introduces an FFT-based implicit method for simulating elastic wave propagation in heterogeneous media, offering improved accuracy and computational efficiency over traditional finite element and explicit FFT methods.

Contribution

The paper develops a novel implicit FFT-based algorithm for elastic wave simulation that handles complex boundary conditions and large models efficiently.

Findings

Accuracy comparable or superior to finite element methods

Numerical performance significantly better, enabling larger models

Successfully simulates various wave propagation scenarios

Abstract

An FFT-based algorithm is developed to simulate the propagation of elastic waves in heterogeneous $d$-dimensional rectangular shape domains. The method allows one to prescribe the displacement as a function of time in a subregion of the domain, emulating the application of Dirichlet boundary conditions on an outer face. Time discretization is performed using an unconditionally stable beta-Newmark approach. The implicit problem for obtaining the displacement at each time step is solved by transforming the equilibrium equations into Fourier space and solving the corresponding linear system with a preconditioned Krylov solver. The resulting method is validated against analytical solutions and compared with implicit and explicit finite element simulations and with an explicit FFT approach. The accuracy of the method is similar to or better than that of finite elements, and the numerical performance is clearly superior, allowing the use of much larger models. To illustrate the capabilities of the method, some numerical examples are presented, including the propagation of planar, circular, and spherical waves and the simulation of the propagation of a pulse in a polycrystalline medium.