Summary
Seismic exploration is the primary tool for finding and mapping out hydrocarbon deposits. We consider here the 2- D forward modeling problem. The subsurface structures are assumed to be known, and the task is to simulate elastic wave propagation throughout the medium. In the Abstract for SEG 2013 [1], we outlined how RBF-FD (radial basis function generated finite difference) spatial discretization can offer high accuracy and algebraic simplicity also when using scattered layouts of the computational nodes. The primary intent of the approach is to provide much improved capabilities for accurate treatment also of arbitrarily curved material interfaces. We have now developed this method further, obtaining third order of accuracy also for wave reflection/transmission at such interfaces. We will next give a brief introduction to the RBF and RBF-FD concepts before focusing on the present advances.
