Anisotropic wave propagation through finite‐difference grids

An algorithm is presented to solve the elastic‐wave equation by replacing the partial differentials with finite differences. It enables wave propagation to be simulated in three dimensions through generally anisotropic and heterogeneous models. The space derivatives are calculated using discrete convolution sums, while the time derivatives are replaced by a truncated Taylor expansion. A centered finite difference scheme in Cartesian coordinates is used for the space derivatives leading to staggered grids. The use of finite difference approximations to the partial derivatives results in a frequency‐dependent error in the group and phase velocities of waves. For anisotropic media, the use of staggered grids implies that some of the elements of the stress and strain tensors must be interpolated to calculate the Hook sum. This interpolation induces an additional error in the wave properties. The overall error depends on the precision of the derivative and interpolation operators, the anisotropic symmetry system, its orientation and the degree of anisotropy. The dispersion relation for the homogeneous case was derived for the proposed scheme. Since we use a general description of convolution sums to describe the finite difference operators, the numerical wave properties can be calculated for any space operator and an arbitrary homogeneous elastic model. In particular, phase and group velocities of the three wave types can be determined in any direction. We demonstrate that waves can be modeled accurately even through models with strong anisotropy when the operators are properly designed.