Computer Simulations of Wave Phenomena

These are perspective (above) and plan views (right) of elastic SH waves propagating in a square of anisotropic material that includes (on its lower left corner) a wedge of a different material. The mesh is 256x256 points and the computation is done using the pseudospectral method (see for instance Min, L. & J.A. Rial, 1995; Geophys. J. Int. 120,60-72 ). A point source (pure shear) is located at the center of the large square. The anisotropy of each medium is described by nine independent elastic constants. These are selected to represent media with fractures oriented at 60 degrees with the x-axis. The component shown is the motion paralell to the z-axis. The snapshot, 1000 ms after the initial time displays a complex wave pattern, in contrast to the isotropic case shown in the home page. Here converted P-waves, split shear waves diffractedd and reflected can be identified.

J.A. Rial, jar@wave.gphys.unc.edu

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