Some comparisons and analyses of time or space discontinuous Galerkin methods applied to elastic wave propagation in anisotropic and heterogeneous media

Abstract

This research work presents some comparisons and analyses of the time discontinuous space–time Galerkin method and the space discontinuous Galerkin method applied to elastic wave propagation in anisotropic and heterogeneous media. Mechanism of both methods to ensure their stability using time or space discontinuities of unknown fields is analyzed and compared. The most general case of anisotropic and heterogeneous media with physical interfaces of discontinuous material properties is considered, especially for the space discontinuous Galerkin method. A new stability result is proved. Numerical applications to different elastic media, more particularly polycrystalline materials containing a large number of physical interfaces, are also presented to confirm theoretical analyses.