A stable staggered-grid finite-difference scheme for acoustic modeling beyond conventional stability limit

Staggered-grid finite-difference(SGFD)schemes have been widely used in acoustic wave modeling for geophysical problems.Many improved methods are proposed to enhance the accuracy of numerical modeling.However,these methods are inevitably limited by the maximum Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy(CFL)numbers,making them unstable when modeling with large time sampling intervals or small grid spacings.To solve this problem,we extend a stable SGFD scheme by controlling SGFD dispersion relations and maximizing the maximum CFL numbers.First,to improve modeling stability,we minimize the error between the FD dispersion relation and the exact relation in the given wave-number region,and make the FD dispersion approach a given function outside the given wave-number area,thus breaking the conventional limits of the maximum CFL number.Second,to obtain high modeling accuracy,we use the SGFD scheme based on the Remez algorithm to compute the FD coefficients.In addition,the hybrid absorbing boundary condition is adopted to suppress boundary reflections and we find a suitable weighting coefficient for the proposed scheme.Theoretical derivation and numerical modeling demonstrate that the proposed scheme can maintain high accuracy in the modeling process and the value of the maximum CFL number of the proposed scheme can exceed that of the conventional SGFD scheme when adopting a small maximum effective wavenumber,indicating that the proposed scheme improves stability during the modeling.

Three-dimensional acoustic wave equation modeling based on the optimal finite-difference scheme

Generally, FD coefficients can be obtained by using Taylor series expansion （TE） or optimization methods to minimize the dispersion error. However, the TE-based FD method only achieves high modeling precision over a limited range of wavenumbers, and produces large numerical dispersion beyond this range. The optimal FD scheme based on least squares （LS） can guarantee high precision over a larger range of wavenumbers and obtain the best optimization solution at small computational cost. We extend the LS-based optimal FD scheme from two-dimensional （2D） forward modeling to three-dimensional （3D） and develop a 3D acoustic optimal FD method with high efficiency, wide range of high accuracy and adaptability to parallel computing. Dispersion analysis and forward modeling demonstrate that the developed FD method suppresses numerical dispersion. Finally, we use the developed FD method to source wavefield extrapolation and receiver wavefield extrapolation in 3D RTM. To decrease the computation time and storage requirements, the 3D RTM is implemented by combining the efficient boundary storage with checkpointing strategies on GPU. 3D RTM imaging results suggest that the 3D optimal FD method has higher precision than conventional methods.

Optimization of a global seventh-order dissipative compact finite-difference scheme by a genetic algorithm

A global seventh-order dissipative compact finite-difference scheme is optimized in terms of time stability. The dissipative parameters appearing in the boundary closures are assumed to be different, resulting in an optimization problem with several parameters determined by applying a generic algorithm. The optimized schemes are analyzed carefully from the aspects of the eigenvalue distribution, the ε-pseudospectra, the short time behavior, and the Fourier analysis. Numerical experiments for the Euler equations are used to show the effectiveness of the final recommended scheme.

SEVERAL NEW TYPES OF FINITE-DIFFERENCE SCHEMES FOR SHALLOW-WATER EQUATION WITH INITIAL-BOUNDARY VALUE AND THEIR NUMERICAL EXPERIMENT

This paper proposed several new types of finite-difference methods for the shallow water equation in absolute coordinate system and put forward an effective two-step predictor-corrector method, a compact and iterative algorithm for five diagonal matrix. Then the iterative method was used for a multi-grid procedure for shallow water equation. A t last, an initial-boundary value problem was considered, and the numerical results show that the linear sinusoidal wave would successively evolve into conoidal wave.

Numerical simulation of seismic wavefields in TTI media using the rotated staggered-grid compact finite-difference scheme

Numerical simulation in transverse isotropic media with tilted symmetry axis（TTI） using the standard staggered-grid finite-difference scheme（SSG）results in errors caused by averaging or interpolation. In order to eliminate the errors, a method of rotated staggered-grid finite-difference scheme（RSG） is proposed. However, the RSG brings serious numerical dispersion. The compact staggered-grid finite-difference scheme（CSG） is an implicit difference scheme, which use fewer grid points to suppress dispersion more effectively than the SSG. This paper combines the CSG with the RSG to derive a rotated staggered-grid compact finite-difference scheme（RSGC）. The numerical experiments indicate that the RSGC has weaker numerical dispersion and better accuracy than the RSG.

The Best Finite-Difference Scheme for the Helmholtz Equation

The best finite-difference scheme for the Helmholtz equation is suggested. A method of solving obtained finite-difference scheme is developed. The efficiency and accuracy of method were tested on several examples.

Nonstandard finite-difference schemes for the two-level Bloch model

In this paper, we present splitting schemes for the two-level Bloch model. After proposing two ways to split the Bloch equation, we show that it is possible in each case togenerate exact numerical solutions of the obtained sub-equations. These exact solutionsinvolve matrix exponentials which can be expensive to compute. Here, for 2×2 matriceswe develop equivalent formulations which reduce the computational cost. These splittingschemes are nonstandard ones and conserve all the physical properties (Hermicity, positiveness and trace) of Bloch equations. In addition, they are explicit, making effectivetheir implementation when coupled with the Maxwell’s equations.

The approach to optimization of finite-difference schemes for the advective stage of finite-difference-based lattice Boltzmann method

The approach to optimization of finite-difference(FD)schemes for the linear advection equation(LAE)is proposed.The FD schemes dependent on the scalar dimensionless parameter are considered.The parameter is included in the expression,which approximates the term with spatial derivatives.The approach is based on the considering of the dispersive and dissipative characteristics of the schemes as the functions of the parameter.For the proper choice of the parameter,these functions are minimized.The approach is applied to the optimization of two-step schemes with an asymmetric approximation of time derivative and with various approximations of the spatial term.The cases of schemes from first to fourth approximation orders are considered.The optimal values of the parameter are obtained.Schemes with the optimal values are applied to the solution of test problems with smooth and discontinuous initial conditions.Also,schemes are used in the FD-based lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)for modeling of the compressible gas flow.The obtained numerical results demonstrate the convergence of the schemes and decaying of the numerical dispersion.

An adaptive finite-difference method for seismic traveltime modeling based on 3D eikonal equation

3D eikonal equation is a partial differential equation for the calculation of first-arrival traveltimes and has been widely applied in many scopes such as ray tracing,source localization,reflection migration,seismic monitoring and tomographic imaging.In recent years,many advanced methods have been developed to solve the 3D eikonal equation in heterogeneous media.However,there are still challenges for the stable and accurate calculation of first-arrival traveltimes in 3D strongly inhomogeneous media.In this paper,we propose an adaptive finite-difference(AFD)method to numerically solve the 3D eikonal equation.The novel method makes full use of the advantages of different local operators characterizing different seismic wave types to calculate factors and traveltimes,and then the most accurate factor and traveltime are adaptively selected for the convergent updating based on the Fermat principle.Combined with global fast sweeping describing seismic waves propagating along eight directions in 3D media,our novel method can achieve the robust calculation of first-arrival traveltimes with high precision at grid points either near source point or far away from source point even in a velocity model with large and sharp contrasts.Several numerical examples show the good performance of the AFD method,which will be beneficial to many scientific applications.

Perfect plane-wave source for a high-order symplectic finite-difference time-domain scheme

The method of splitting a plane-wave finite-difference time-domain （SP-FDTD） algorithm is presented for the initiation of plane-wave source in the total-field / scattered-field （TF/SF） formulation of high-order symplectic finite- difference time-domain （SFDTD） scheme for the first time. By splitting the fields on one-dimensional grid and using the nature of numerical plane-wave in finite-difference time-domain （FDTD）, the identical dispersion relation can be obtained and proved between the one-dimensional and three-dimensional grids. An efficient plane-wave source is simulated on one-dimensional grid and a perfect match can be achieved for a plane-wave propagating at any angle forming an integer grid cell ratio. Numerical simulations show that the method is valid for SFDTD and the residual field in SF region is shrinked down to -300 dB.

An efficient locally one-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method based on the conformal scheme

An efficient conformal locally one-dimensional finite-difference time-domain（LOD-CFDTD） method is presented for solving two-dimensional（2D） electromagnetic（EM） scattering problems. The formulation for the 2D transverse-electric（TE） case is presented and its stability property and numerical dispersion relationship are theoretically investigated. It is shown that the introduction of irregular grids will not damage the numerical stability. Instead of the staircasing approximation, the conformal scheme is only employed to model the curve boundaries, whereas the standard Yee grids are used for the remaining regions. As the irregular grids account for a very small percentage of the total space grids, the conformal scheme has little effect on the numerical dispersion. Moreover, the proposed method, which requires fewer arithmetic operations than the alternating-direction-implicit（ADI） CFDTD method, leads to a further reduction of the CPU time. With the total-field/scattered-field（TF/SF） boundary and the perfectly matched layer（PML）, the radar cross section（RCS） of two2 D structures is calculated. The numerical examples verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.

AN EXPLICIT MULTI-CONSERVATION FINITE-DIFFERENCE SCHEME FOR SHALLOW-WATER-WAVE EQUATION

An explicit multi-conservation finite-difference scheme for solving the spherical shallow-water-wave equation set of barotropic atmosphere has been proposed. The numerical scheme is based on a special semi-discrete form of the equations that conserves four basic physical integrals including the total energy, total mass, total potential vorticity and total enstrophy. Numerical tests show that the new scheme performs closely like but is much more time-saving than the implicit multi-conservation scheme.

Viscoacoustic prestack reverse time migration based onthe optimal time-space domain high-order finite-difference method

Prestack reverse time migration （RTM） is an accurate imaging method ofsubsurface media. The viscoacoustic prestack RTM is of practical significance because itconsiders the viscosity of the subsurface media. One of the steps of RTM is solving thewave equation and extrapolating the wave field forward and backward; therefore, solvingaccurately and efficiently the wave equation affects the imaging results and the efficiencyof RTM. In this study, we use the optimal time-space domain dispersion high-order finite-difference （FD） method to solve the viscoacoustic wave equation. Dispersion analysis andnumerical simulations show that the optimal time-space domain FD method is more accurateand suppresses the numerical dispersion. We use hybrid absorbing boundary conditions tohandle the boundary reflection. We also use source-normalized cross-correlation imagingconditions for migration and apply Laplace filtering to remove the low-frequency noise.Numerical modeling suggests that the viscoacoustic wave equation RTM has higher imagingresolution than the acoustic wave equation RTM when the viscosity of the subsurface isconsidered. In addition, for the wave field extrapolation, we use the adaptive variable-lengthFD operator to calculate the spatial derivatives and improve the computational efficiencywithout compromising the accuracy of the numerical solution.

Finite-difference numerical modeling with even-order accuracy in two-phase anisotropic media

To improve the accuracy of the conventional finite-difference method, finitedifference numerical modeling methods of any even-order accuracy are recommended. We introduce any even-order accuracy difference schemes of any-order derivatives derived from Taylor series expansion. Then, a finite-difference numerical modeling method with any evenorder accuracy is utilized to simulate seismic wave propagation in two-phase anisotropic media. Results indicate that modeling accuracy improves with the increase of difference accuracy order number. It is essential to find the optimal order number, grid size, and time step to balance modeling precision and computational complexity. Four kinds of waves, static mode in the source point, SV wave cusps, reflection and transmission waves are observed in two-phase anisotropic media through modeling.

Finite-difference modeling of surface waves in poroelastic media and stress mirror conditions

During seismic wave propagation on a free surface, a strong material contrast boundary develops in response to interference by P- and S- waves to create a surface-wave phenomenon. To accurately determine the effects of this interface on surface-wave propagation, the boundary conditions must be accurately modeled. In this paper, we present a numerical approach based on the dynamic poroelasticity for a space–time-domain staggered-grid finite-difference simulation in porous media that contain a free-surface boundary. We propose a generalized stess mirror formulation of the free-surface boundary for solids and fluids in porous media for the grid mesh on which lays the free-surface plane. Its analog is that used for elastic media, which is suitable for precise and stable Rayleigh-type surface-wave modeling. The results of our analysis of first kind of Rayleigh （R1） waves obtained by this model demonstrate that the discretization of the mesh in a similar way to that for elastic media can realize stable numerical solutions with acceptable precision. We present numerical examples demonstrating the efficiency and accuracy of our proposed method.

Finite-difference modeling with variable grid-size and adaptive time-step in porous media

Forward modeling of elastic wave propagation in porous media has great importance for understanding and interpreting the influences of rock properties on characteristics of seismic wavefield. However,the finite-difference forward-modeling method is usually implemented with global spatial grid-size and time-step; it consumes large amounts of computational cost when small-scaled oil/gas-bearing structures or large velocity-contrast exist underground. To overcome this handicap,combined with variable grid-size and time-step,this paper developed a staggered-grid finite-difference scheme for elastic wave modeling in porous media. Variable finite-difference coefficients and wavefield interpolation were used to realize the transition of wave propagation between regions of different grid-size. The accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm were shown by numerical examples. The proposed method is advanced with low computational cost in elastic wave simulation for heterogeneous oil/gas reservoirs.

2-D elastic wave modeling with frequency-space 25-point finite-difference operators

Numerical simulation in the frequency-space domain has inherent advantages, such as： it is possible to simulate wave propagation from multiple sources simultaneously; there are no cumulative errors; only the interesting frequencies can be selected; and it is more suitable for wave propagation in viscoelastic media. The only obstacle to using the method is the requirement of huge computer storage. We extend the compressed format for storing the coefficient matrix. It can reduce the required computer storage dramatically. We get the optimal coefficients by least-squares method to suppress the numerical dispersion and adopt the perfectly matched layer （PML） boundary conditions to eliminate the artificial boundary reflections. Using larger grid intervals decreases computer storage requirements and provides high computational efficiency. Numerical experiments demonstrate that these means are economic and effective, providing a good basis for elastic wave imaging and inversion.

3D finite-difference modeling algorithm and anomaly features of ZTEM

The Z-Axis tiPPer eiectromagnetic （ZTEM） technique is based on a frequency-domain airbome electromagnetic system that measures the natural magnetic field. A survey area was divided into several blocks by using the Maxwell＇s equations, and the magnetic components at the center of each edge of the grid cell are evaluated by applying the staggered-grid finite-difference method. The tipper and its divergence are derived to complete the 3D ZTEM forward modeling algorithm. A synthetic model is then used to compare the responses with those of 2D finite-element forward modeling to verify the accuracy of the algorithm. ZTEM offers high horizontal resolution to both simple and complex distributions of conductivity. This work is the theoretical foundation for the interpretation of ZTEM data and the study of 3D ZTEM inversion.

Optimized staggered-grid finite-difference operators using window functions

The staggered-grid finite-difference （SGFD） method has been widely used in seismic forward modeling. The precision of the forward modeling results directly affects the results of the subsequent seismic inversion and migration. Numerical dispersion is one of the problems in this method. The window function method can reduce dispersion by replacing the finite-difference operators with window operators, obtained by truncating the spatial convolution series of the pseudospectral method. Although the window operators have high precision in the low-wavenumber domain, their precision decreases rapidly in the high-wavenumber domain. We develop a least squares optimization method to enhance the precision of operators obtained by the window function method. We transform the SGFD problem into a least squares problem and find the best solution iteratively. The window operator is chosen as the initial value and the optimized domain is set by the error threshold. The conjugate gradient method is also adopted to increase the stability of the solution. Approximation error analysis and numerical simulation results suggest that the proposed method increases the precision of the window function operators and decreases the numerical dispersion.

Finite-difference calculation of traveltimes based on rectangular grid

To the most of velocity fields, the traveltimes of the first break that seismic waves propagate along rays can be computed on a 2-D or 3-D numerical grid by finite-difference extrapolation. Under ensuring accuracy, to improve calculating efficiency and adaptability, the calculation method of first-arrival traveltime of finite-difference is de- rived based on any rectangular grid and a local plane wavefront approximation. In addition, head waves and scat- tering waves are properly treated and shadow and caustic zones cannot be encountered, which appear in traditional ray-tracing. The testes of two simple models and the complex Marmousi model show that the method has higher accuracy and adaptability to complex structure with strong vertical and lateral velocity variation, and Kirchhoff prestack depth migration based on this method can basically achieve the position imaging effects of wave equation prestack depth migration in major structures and targets. Because of not taking account of the later arrivals energy, the effect of its amplitude preservation is worse than that by wave equation method, but its computing efficiency is higher than that by total Green′s function method and wave equation method.