3D Time-domain wave modeling in fluid-solid coupled media: a cell-based finite-difference method approach

In a conventional marine seismic data analysis, pressure data have been usually interpreted on the basis of acoustic wave equation. The acoustic wave equation, however, only deals with P-wave propagation, and it cannot correctly describe the wave propagation in acoustic-elastic (fluid-solid) coupled media. Recently, in 4C OBC survey (4-component ocean bottom cable), it is possible to acquire both pressure and 3-component displacements (measured at the sea-bottom). Combining pressure and displacement data allows us to interpret subsurface structures more accurately. In order to accurately simulate wave propagation in fluid-solid coupled media, we need an acoustic-elastic coupled modeling algorithm, which deals with displacements in elastic region and pressure in acoustic region. For waveform inversion and reverse-time migration that require a great number of forward modeling, it is essential to develop an efficient scheme that reduces computing time and computer core memory. In this study, we present a 3D time-domain acoustic-elastic coupled modeling algorithm on the basis of the cell-based finite difference method. The cell-based method has proven to properly describe the free-surface boundary, which indicates that it will also properly describe the fluid-solid interface boundaries. In the acoustic-elastic coupled modeling, we first compose cell-based finite differences individually for the 3D acoustic and elastic media, and then combine the differences using the fluid-solid interface boundary conditions. Considering that the 2D acoustic-elastic coupled modeling algorithm gives numerical solutions comparable to analytic solutions, we expect that the 3D acoustic-elastic coupled modeling will correctly describe wave propagation in the fluid-solid coupled media. We apply our algorithm to 3D horizontal two- and three-layer models. Numerical experiments show that the cell-based coupled modeling algorithm properly describes S- and converted waves as well as P-waves. The proposed scheme can be used as an alternative to other techniques which require heavy computational costs, and would be practical for waveform inversion and reverse time migration.