A staggered discontinuous Galerkin method for the simulation of Rayleigh waves

Accurate simulation of Rayleigh waves is of critical importance in a variety of geophysical applications, such as exploration geophysics, geotechnical characterization, and earthquake-related damage assessment. Based on recent works on staggered discontinuous Galerkin methods, we propose for the simulation of Rayleigh waves a new method which enjoys energy conservation and extremely low grid dispersion, so that it naturally provides accurate long-time/long-range wave propagation. Moreover, it can handle with ease irregular surface topography and discontinuities in the subsurface models as it is a Galerkin-type method. Since it combines the advantages of both the staggeredgrid finite difference method and the discontinuous Galerkin method, the proposed method offers a powerful tool for modeling Rayleigh waves and seismic waves in general.