High-Performance Computational Geophysics

Computational Geophysics provides numerical solutions to geophysical problems for which analytical solutions are unavailable or difficult to achieve. The foundations of geophysics are the analyses of the mechanical and electrodynamic partial differential equations in the context of the Earth structure and material. Because of the complexities of the Earth structure and material as well as the spatial-temporal multi-scale characteristics of geophysical phenomena, solutions to most of the practical problems have to rely on numerical approaches. Our faculty in computational geophysics is supported by our in-house high-performance computer cluster, as well as large computational facilities from the university. Research interests include computational seismology and computational geo-electromagnetism. Faculty members in computational geophysics include

 

Zhao, Li

　　Computational Seismology. Developed practical algorithms for the inversion of earthquake finite-fault ruptures in complex Earth models involving 3D heterogeneities and surface topography, which enables near real-time inversions of finite earthquake sources and estimations of strong ground motion for the purposes of emergence response and physics-based seismic hazard assessment.

 

Wang, Yanbin

　　Computational Seismology. Developed algorithms for seismic wave propagation in complex structures across global, regional and local scales based on pseudo-spectral and finite-difference methods, with applications to the simulations of the wavefields of Moon and Mars quakes and strong ground motion of sedimentary basins.

　　

Snapshots of global P-SV wavefields from a 100-km deep moonquake calculated in 2D Moon model by pseudo-spectral and finite difference hybrid method.

 

Ge, Zengxi

　　Numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation. Developed an algorithm to compute the seismic wave propagation in multiple-layered media by combining the general global reflection/transmission method with the boundary element method.

　　

Seismic wave in a reverse fault model computed by the global transmission/reflection boundary element method. (a) The velocity model and location of sources. (b) Computed synthetic seismograms for above two sources.

 

Berndt, Thomas A.

　　Computational Rock Magnetism. Rocks contain a multitude of magnetic minerals that contain records of the behavior of the geomagnetic field, as well as geodynamic and environmental processes. Micromagnetic finite-element simulations of such minerals allow the detection and characterization of them from non-destructive, non-intrusive magnetic measurements. One recent application of this is the use of biogenically synthesized chains of magnetite particles (magnetosomes) as a paleoenvironmental proxy.

Micromagnetic finite-element model of biogenically synthesized magnetic particle chains (magnetosomes) to predict magnetic domain states and hysteresis parameters (Berndt et al., 2020, Earth and Planetary Science Letters).