Elastic modeling in discontinuous media: testing the dynamic response

Carlos A. Cunha Filho

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ABSTRACT

A simple discontinuous model with known analytical solution is used to compare the dynamic response of three elastic modeling schemes. One scheme is based on the Haskell-Thomson propagator-matrix and the other two are based on finite-differences. One of the finite-difference schemes follows the traditional discretization of the elastic wave equation while the other is based on a discretization approach developed for discontinuous media. Except for a higher dispersion in the traditional finite-differences, all approaches show a similar behavior at small angles of incidence. At larger illumination angles, the modified finite-difference and the propagator-matrix methods are much closer to the analytical solution than the traditional finite-difference approach. These results may have a considerable impact in the accuracy of finite-differences-based inversion schemes whenever the subsurface geology is better described (within the resolution wavelength of the data) by a model with sharp interfaces rather than by a smoothly varying model.