A hybrid implicit-explicit discontinuous Galerkin spectral element time domain (DG-SETD) method for computational elastodynamics

A hybrid implicit-explicit (IMEX) discontinuous Galerkin spectral element time domain (DG-SETD) algorithm is proposed to simulate 3D elastic wave propagation in inhomogeneous media. In this method, the original problem can be divided into a number of well designed subdomains, and the mesh generation of different subdomains is completely independent, thus allowing flexible spatial discretization of complex geometry. The neighboring subdomains are connected by a Riemann transmission condition (RTC), and spectral elements with different interpolation orders can be used in different subdomains to maximize the computational efficiency of multiscale problems to facilitate parallel computing for different subdomains. In particular, the explicit or implicit time iteration scheme can be appropriately selected for a subdomain according to the size of its mesh elements to increase the global time step increment, thus giving higher computational efficiency: For subdomains with coarse meshes, the explicit time integration scheme is used and the time step increment is limited by the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) stability condition; for subdomain with fine structures and thus fine meshes, an implicit time integration scheme is used so that a large time step increment can be used without affecting the stability. In addition, a jump condition of displacement and velocity is introduced to accurately simulating fractures and faults, including lossless and viscous fractures with plane, curve or cross structures. This avoids the volume modeling of the extremely thin fracture structures, and effectively reduces the number of degrees of freedoms (DoFs) in the discretized system without the loss of accuracy. The accuracy, robustness and efficiency of the DG-SETD algorithm are demonstrated by quantitative comparisons of the waveforms with the commercial finite element software COMSOL.