Boundary element modeling of nondissipative and dissipative waves

Abstract

A boundary element (BE) algorithm is developed to compute acoustic or SH‐waves in models consisting of limited or unlimited volumes and irregular interfaces. We solve the BE system in the frequency domain so that anelasticity can be easily represented by different viscoelastic models, such as the Kelvin‐Voigt type. Three illustrative computations are shown. The waveform given by the BE method for a circular inclusion model agrees well with that given by the finite‐difference (FD) method. Dissipation of waves at high frequency caused by the presence of multi‐cracks in an elastic medium resembles the masking effect of anelasticity. The waveforms for nondissipative and dissipative models containing hexagonal inclusions illustrate some interesting characteristics of the composite media.