Solving elastic wave equations in 2D transversely isotropic media by a weighted Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin method

Abstract

Accurate wave propagation simulation in anisotropic media is important for forward modeling, migration and inversion. In this study, the weighted Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method is extended to solve the elastic wave equations in 2D transversely isotropic media. The spatial discretization is based on the numerical flux discontinuous Galerkin scheme. An explicit weighted two-step iterative Runge-Kutta method is used as time-stepping algorithm. The weighted RKDG method has good flexibility and applicability of dealing with undulating geometries and boundary conditions. To verify the correctness and effectiveness of this method, several numerical examples are presented for elastic wave propagations in vertical transversely isotropic and tilted transversely isotropic media. The results show that the weighted RKDG method is promising for solving wave propagation problems in complex anisotropic medium.