Common-ray tracing and dynamic ray tracing for S waves in a smooth elastic anisotropic medium

Summary

Anisotropic common S-wave rays are traced using the averaged Hamiltonian of both S-wave polarizations. They represent very practical reference rays for calculating S waves by means of the coupling ray theory. They eliminate problems with anisotropic-ray-theory ray tracing through some S-wave slowness-surface singularities and also considerably simplify the numerical algorithm of the coupling ray theory for S waves.

The equations required for anisotropic-common-ray tracing for S waves in a smooth elastic anisotropic medium, and for corresponding dynamic ray tracing in Cartesian or ray-centred coordinates, are presented. The equations, for the most part generally known, are summarized in a form which represents a complete algorithm suitable for coding and numerical applications.

Keywords

Travel time, ray tracing, dynamic ray tracing, geometrical spreading, S waves, coupling ray theory, seismic anisotropy, heterogeneous media.

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