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Anisotropic Acoustic Wave Equation
Framing the Problem

The elastic wave equation is both information rich and elaborate,
containing travel time and amplitude characteristics.
However, numerically solving the elastic wave equation is
computationally expensive:
This wavefield is described by a three-component
displacement vector containing both P and S waves.
Simulating wave propagation using finite-difference techniques
requires simultaneously computing all three components.
The time step and grid spacing must accommodate the
slowest velocity shear wave in the model.
Accounting for anisotropy complicates the picture. On the other hand,

conventional isotropic data processing methods lead to lower resolution
and incorrect subsurface modeling.
More Problems
Several methods have been devised to simplify the anisotropic
equation:
Weak-anisotropy approximation
Elliptical approximations
Small dip angle approximations
These approximations have their perspective limitations which

sometimes make them ill-suited for practical applications.
The Solution
Following Alkhalifah (2000) and H. Zhou's (2010) work, implement a
coupled system of second-order differential equations subject to the
acoustic assumption.
As Alkhalifah illustrates, the acoustic assumption yields far more
kinematically accurate results compared to the aforementioned
anisotropic approximations.
As this system of anisotropic acoustic equations is described by a scalar
field rather than a vector field, it is less computationally intensive than the
elastic wave equation. The number of equations are reduced while still
yielding kinematic results which are comparable to the full elastic
equation.
Moreover, if we can suppress shear wave artifacts then we can easily
model P-waves without using filters to separate out the S-waves.
But isn't an anisotropic acoustic media
physically impossible?
Most researchers have viewed an anisotropic acoustic media as a
physically impossible mathematical trick. Moreover, the diamond shaped
wavefronts are widely regarded as artifacts. This view isn't entirely correct.
As Grechka (2010) shows, simply setting s-waves to zero in the direction
of the symmetry axis does not mean s-wave velocity is zero everywhere.
The diamond shaped wavefront is a testament to this simple fact.
Such bizarre s-wave behavior may be representative of finely layered
media containing highly compliant solid or viscous fluid layers.
While it is interesting to know that our artifacts have some basis in
reality, in practice the diamond shaped s-waves may cause instabilities
and should be suppressed for modeling. This s-waves are generally not
representative of our actually earth model.
Outline of Derivation
1) Begin with the phase velocity relations.
2) Acoustic approximation: set the s-wave velocity along the
symmetry axis to be zero.
3) Derive the dispersion relations for TTI media and multiple by
the wavefield function in the Fourier domain.
4) Apply an inverse Fourier transform and use the correspondent
relations to obtain the final anisotropic acoustic equation.
5) For an indepth derivation refer to Zhou(2012) and
Alkhalifah (2000).
Anisotropic Acoustic Wave Equation in 3D TTI
Equation (1) governs the propagation of the wavefront while equation (2) acts as an
auxiliary function which can be thought to control the anellipticity of the wavefront.
1 2 p
=(1+2 ) q+(1+2 ) p+ 0 p (1)
c2 t2
2
1 q
2 2
=2( ) q +2( ) p (2)
c t
and represent Thomsen's dimensionless anisotropic parameters. The differential

operators H and H0 equal:
2 2 2 2 2 2

= A 2 +(BE+ D) 2 +(BD+E) 2 CI CG AF (3)
x y y x y x z y z
2 2 2 2 2 2

0=B 2 +( AE) 2 +( AD) 2 +CI +CG + AF (4)
x y y x y x z yz
Cross derivatives to account for tilt which is accounted for by combined to rotations: a
rotation of angle along the y-axis and rotation of along the x-axis.
2 2 2
A=cos (),B=sin (),C=sin (2), D=cos (),
2
E=sin (),F=sin(2),G=cos(), I=sin()
Anisotropic Acoustic Wave Equation in 3D VTI
Equations for VTI media are readily obtained from the TTI equations (1) and (2) by
simply setting = = 0:
1 2 p
2

2
2 p
2 2
=(1+2 )( 2 + 2
)( p +q)+ 2 (5)
c t x y z
1 2 q 2
2
=2()( 2 + 2 )( p+q) (6)
c2 2
t x y
Similarly, equations (1) and (2) degenerate into equations for HTI by setting
= = 90 degrees.
Isotropic Acoustic Wave Equation and Elliptical
Anisotropy
While not physically obvious, the auxiliary q-field can be thought to control the anellipticity of
the propagating wave field. For example, let's consider two more degenerate cases.
For isotropic media, = = 0 causing the q-field (equation (6) ) to vanish thereby yielding
the familiar acoustic wave equation for a propagating pressure wave:
1 2 p c 2 t 2=(1+ 2 ) 2 2 2 p+2 ( p+q )+ 2 ,
1 2 p 2 p 2 p 2 p
2 2
=( 2 + 2
+ 2)
c t x y z
For elliptical anisotropy, = 0 also causing the q field to vanish. However, the p field
maintains a value which controls the ellipticity of the propagating p-field:
2 2 2 2
1 p + p )+ p
2 2
=(1+2)( 2 2 2
c t x y p z
VTI Media and Degenerate Cases
HTI and TTI Media
Time and Spatial Discretization
Using a second order finite-difference approach, we can approximate
the partial differential derivatives in the equations for VTI media. For example:
n +1 n n1
2 p p y 2 p y + p y
2
2
t t
The second-order FD stencil of the system of hyperbolic anisotropic acoustic equations
in the time direction can be expressed as:
n +1 n n1 2 2 p nx+1 2 p nx + pnx1 pny +12 pny + p ny1 q nx +12 q nx + qnx1 q ny+ 12 q ny +q ny1 p nz +12 p nz + p nz 1
p =2 p p +c t [(1+ 2 )( + + + )+ ] (7)
x2 y2 x2 y2 z2
pnx+12 pnx + p nx1 p ny+1 2 p ny + pny 1 q nx+1 2 q nx +q nx1 qny+12 qny + qny1
q n+1 =2 qn q n1 +2 c 2 ()( + + + ) (8)
x2 y2 x2 y2
A second order in time, time stepping algorithm is used. Spatial discretized p and q fields
are evaluated at each time step. A conventional grid is used for the FD scheme.
To reduce numerical dispersions, the spacial derivatives in equations (7) and (8) are
approximated by higher orders.
Basic Memory Allocation
For VTI and TTI models anisotropic parameters need to be accounted for
(epsilon, delta, dip, azimuth) in addition to the auxiliary q-field.
Assuming a constant density media, basic memory allocation can be summarized
as follows:
Isotropic Modeling VTI Modeling TTI Modeling

p_pastTime p_pastTime p_pastTime
p_currentTime p_currentTime p_currentTime
Velocity q_pastTime q_pastTime
q_currentTime q_currentTime
Velocity Velocity
Epsilon Epsilon
Delta Delta
Dip
Azimuth
It requires a huge amount of memory to store full 3D wavefields and models.

Using high order FD schemes allows for larger grid spacing and time steps resulting
in faster computations and less memory usage.
Stability Condition
The stability condition for the isotropic wave equation can be defined as follows:
d min 2
t ( ) ( 9)
v max a
a= (|W x|+|W y|+|W z|) (10)
In equation (9), d represents the minimum grid spacing which is governed by minimum
velocity, maximum frequency, and the FD scheme order:
d min=min( x , y , z) (11)
v min
x= (12)
f maxS
W is the FD coefficient. Equation (13) gives the stability condition for VTI media
and equation (14) gives the stability condition for TTI media.
1 a=W (a 1+a 2)
a= (|W x|+|W y|+|W z|)(2+4+ (1+2)) (13) a 1=(1+2max )(2b)
3 2
b=cos sin 2+sin 2(sin +cos) (14)
Future Work
Implement the more general system of equations to account for 3D
TTI media using a hybrid FD-pseudospectral approach. This method
simplifies the calculation of cross terms and allows for a courser,
more accurate spatial discretization.
Parallelize the code so that compute nodes operate under the control
of a single master node. Ideally, parallelization will be across sources
and the model will not be distributed as subdomains across nodes.
Move beyond anisotropic wave equation modeling and towards wave
equation migration and maybe even inversion.
Beautiful Stuff to Read
Alkhalifah, T. , 2000, An acoustic wave equation.
fpr anisotropic media: Geophysics, 65, 1239-1250.
Grechka, Zhang, Rector, 2004, Shear waves in acoustic anisotropic
media:Geophysics, 51, 54-66.
Zhou, Zhang, Bloor, 2006, An anisotropic acoustic wave equation for
VTI media: EAGE.
Zhou, Zhang, Bloor, 2006, An anisotropic acoustic wave equation for
modeling and migration in 2D TTI media.

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Anisotropic Acoustic Wave Equation

Framing the Problem

Accounting for anisotropy complicates the picture. On the other hand,

These approximations have their perspective limitations which

and represent Thomsen's dimensionless anisotropic parameters. The differential

Isotropic Modeling VTI Modeling TTI Modeling

It requires a huge amount of memory to store full 3D wavefields and models.

a= (|W x|+|W y|+|W z|) (10)

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