Seismic Wave-Field Propagation Modelling using the Euler Method

Abstract

Wave-field extrapolation based on solving the wave equation is an important step in seismic modeling and needs a high level of accuracy. It has been implemented through a various numerical methods such as finite difference method as the most popular and conventional one. Moreover, the main drawbacks of the finite difference method are the low level of accuracy and the numerical dispersion for large time intervals (∆t). On the other hand, the symplectic integrators due to their structure can cope with this problem and act more accurately in comparison to the finite difference method. They reduce the computation cost and do not face numerical dispersion when time interval is increased. Therefore, the aim of the current paper is to present a symplectic integrator for wave-field extrapolation using the Euler method. Then, the extrapolation is implemented for rather large time intervals using a simple geological model. The extrapolation employed for both symplectic Euler and finite difference methods showed a better quality image for the proposed method. Finally the accuracy was compared to the finite difference method

Keywords

• seismic modeling
• finite difference
• euler method
• accuracy
• numerical dispersion