Seismic wave field modelling using high performance computing

Abstract

We present the newest technical and organizational developments of the simulation software SEISSOL to model seismic wave generation and propagation. The solution algorithm is based on a numerical scheme using the Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element approach to solve hyperbolic partial differential equations. The unique property of the numerical scheme is that it approximates the solution with arbitrary high‐order accuracy in space and time due to a Cauchy‐Kovalewski time integration method the replaces the higher‐order time derivatives in the Taylor series expansion by higher order space derivatives. SEISSOL can handle hexahedral and tetrahedral meshes suitable for geometrically complex computational domains. Furthermore, a variety of different material properties can be considered to calculate accurate synthetic seismograms for realistic wave propagation scenarios, especially apparent in hydrocarbon reservoir structures. The parallel code is running on High‐Performance‐Computing facilities within the DEISA supercomputing infrastructure and represents a revealing test case for interdisciplinary and professional collaboration between geoscientists, computer scientists and software engineers. Due to the dramatic increase in the performance of massively parallel computer hardware an essential part of future developments is the improvement of the efficient exploitation of these resources.