Dispersion and Cost Analysis of Some Finite Difference Schemes in One-Parameter Acoustic Wave Modeling

A systematic comparison is carried out between some standard finite difference schemes, regarding their costs and dispersion properties. To be more specific, given a precision threshold to be imposed on the velocity error and a finite difference scheme, it is possible to determine a time-step and a grid-spacing in an optimal manner, i.e. so as to minimize the computational cost. Using this optimal cost as a criterion, it becomes easy to single out the most economical scheme for the purpose of a synthetic seismic campaign. This survey represents the preliminary part of the larger project Marmousi 3-D, the purpose of which is to create a synthetic database corresponding to one-parameter media. In this paper, one's attention is focused on the 2-2m family of schemes. Since both homogeneous and heteregenous cases are investigated, the study is expected to provide realistic figures for future simulations. Dept. of Comput. and Appl. Math., Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston TX 77251, U..