High order space-time discretization for elastic wave propagation problems

Abstract

In this work we consider the numerical solution of elastic wave propagation problems in heterogeneous media. Our approximation is based on a Discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method coupled with a fourth stage Runge-Kutta time integration scheme. We partition the computational domain into non-overlapping subregions, according to the involved materials, and in each subdomain a spectral finite element discretization is employed. The partitions do not need to be geometrically conforming; furthermore, different polynomial approximation degrees are allowed within each subdomain. The numerical results show that the proposed method is accurate, flexible and well suited for wave propagation analysis.