A space-time discontinuous Galerkin method for coupled poroelasticity-elasticity problems

This work is concerned with the analysis of a space-time finite element discontinuous Galerkin method on polytopal meshes (XT-PolydG) for the numerical discretization of wave propagation in coupled poroelastic-elastic media. The mathematical model consists of the low-frequency Biot's equations in the poroelastic medium and the elastodynamics equation for the elastic one. To realize the coupling, suitable transmission conditions on the interface between the two domains are (weakly) embedded in the formulation. The proposed PolydG discretization in space is then coupled with a dG time integration scheme, resulting in a full space-time dG discretization. We present the stability analysis for both the continuous and the semidiscrete formulations, and we derive error estimates for the semidiscrete formulation in a suitable energy norm. The method is applied to a wide set of numerical test cases to verify the theoretical bounds. Examples of physical interest are also presented to investigate the capability of the proposed method in relevant geophysical scenarios

Numerical modelling of wave propagation phenomena in thermo-poroelastic media via discontinuous Galerkin methods

We present and analyze a high-order discontinuous Galerkin method for the space discretization of the wave propagation model in thermo-poroelastic media. The proposed scheme supports general polytopal grids. Stability analysis and $hp$-version error estimates in suitable energy norms are derived for the semi-discrete problem. The fully-discrete scheme is then obtained based on employing an implicit Newmark-$\beta$ time integration scheme. A wide set of numerical simulations is reported, both for the verification of the theoretical estimates and for examples of physical interest. A comparison with the results of the poroelastic model is provided too, highlighting the differences between the predictive capabilities of the two models

Anatomy of strong ground motion: near-source records and three-dimensional physics-based numerical simulations of the Mw 6.0 2012 May 29 Po Plain earthquake

Stimulated by the recent advances in computational tools for the simulation of seismic wave propagation problems in realistic geologic environments, this paper presents a 3D physicsbased numerical study on the prediction of earthquake ground motion in the Po Plain, with reference to the MW 6.0 May 29 2012 earthquake. To respond to the validation objectives aimed at reproducing with a reasonable accuracy some of the most peculiar features of the nearsource strong motion records and of the damage distribution, this study required a sequence of investigations, starting from the analysis of a nearly unprecedented set of near-source records, to the calibration of an improved kinematic seismic source model, up to the development of a 3D numerical model of the portion of the Po Plain interested by the earthquake, including the irregular buried morphology, with sediment thickness varying from few tens of m to some km. The spatial resolution of the numerical model is suitable to propagate up to about 1:5 Hz. Numerical simulations were performed using the open-source high-performance code SPEED, based on the Discontinuous Galerkin Spectral Elements (DGSE) method. The 3D numerical model coupled with the updated slip distribution along the rupturing fault proved successful to reproduce with reasonable accuracy, measured through quantitative goodness-of-fit criteria, the most relevant features of the observed ground motion both at the near- and far-field scales. These include: (i) the large fault normal velocity peaks at the near-source stations driven by updip directivity effects; (ii) the small-scale variability at short distance from the source, resulting in the out-of-phase motion at stations separated by only 3 km distance; (iii) the propagation of prominent trains of surface waves, especially in the Northern direction, induced by the irregular buried morphology in the near-source area; (iv) the map of earthquake-induced ground uplift with maximum values of about 10 cm, in substantial agreement with satellite measurements; and (v) the two-lobed pattern of the peak ground velocity map, well correlated with the distribution of macroseismic intensity

A high-order discontinuous Galerkin method for the poro-elasto-acoustic problem on polygonal and polyhedral grids

The aim of this work is to introduce and analyze a finite element discontinuous Galerkin method on polygonal meshes for the numerical discretization of acoustic waves propagation through poroelastic materials. Wave propagation is modeled by the acoustics equations in the acoustic domain and the low-frequency Biot's equations in the poroelastic one. The coupling is introduced by considering (physically consistent) interface conditions, imposed on the interface between the domains, modeling both open and sealed pores. Existence and uniqueness is proven for the strong formulation based on employing the semigroup theory. For the space discretization we introduce and analyze a high-order discontinuous Galerkin method on polygonal and polyhedral meshes, which is then coupled with Newmark-$\beta$ time integration schemes. A stability analysis both for the continuous problem and the semi-discrete one is presented and error estimates for the energy norm are derived for the semidiscrete problem. A wide set of numerical results obtained on test cases with manufactured solutions are presented in order to validate the error analysis. Examples of physical interest are also presented to test the capability of the proposed methods in practical cases.Comment: The proof of the well-posedness contains an error. This has an impact on the whole paper. We need time to fix the issu

A hybrid finite volume -- spectral element method for aeroacoustic problems

We propose a hybrid Finite Volume (FV) - Spectral Element Method (SEM) for modelling aeroacoustic phenomena based on the Lighthill's acoustic analogy. First the fluid solution is computed employing a FV method. Then, the sound source term is projected onto the acoustic grid and the inhomogeneous Lighthill's wave equation is solved employing the SEM. The novel projection method computes offline the intersections between the acoustic and the fluid grids in order to preserve the accuracy. The proposed intersection algorithm is shown to be robust, scalable and able to efficiently compute the geometric intersection of arbitrary polyhedral elements. We then analyse the properties of the projection error, showing that if the fluid grid is fine enough we are able to exploit the accuracy of the acoustic solver and we numerically assess the obtained theoretical estimates. Finally, we address two relevant aeroacoustic benchmarks, namely the corotating vortex pair and the noise induced by a laminar flow around a squared cylinder, to demonstrate in practice the effectiveness of the projection method when dealing with high order solvers. The flow computations are performed with OpenFOAM [46], an open-source finite volume library, while the inhomogeneous Lighthill's wave equation is solved with SPEED [31], an opensource spectral element library