Performance of Advanced Scientific Computers for the Efficient Solution of an Elastic Wave Code for Seismic Modeling

The numerical analyst, in order to design and implement an efficient algorithm on modern computers, needs more than a cursory understanding of the architecture of the machine. The mathematical formulation of the physical problem and the subsequent numerical model may be better suited for one architecture than another. Careful consideration must be given not only to CPU speed but to many other factors such as number of processors or memory hierarchy. The physical domain is further complicated by interior interfaces across which the elastic parameters are discontinuous. The motivation for obtaining a numerical scheme with high performance on high-speed computer systems lies in the fact that geophysicists and seismologists typically are interested in problems whose physical domain covers 10,000 feet in the horizontal direction and 20,000 feet in the vertical direction. Linearized elastodynamics theory governs the response of a seismic structure to a surface or buried source.