It has long been recognized that the least-squares estimation method of fitting the best straight line to data points having normally distributed errors yields identical results for the slope and intercept of the line as does the method of maximum likelihood estimation. We show that, contrary to previous understanding, these two methods also give identical results for the standard errors in slope and intercept, provided that the least-squares estimation expressions are evaluated at the least-squares-adjusted points rather than at the observed points as has been done traditionally. This unification of standard errors holds when both x and y observations are subject to correlated errors that vary from point to point. All known correct regression solutions in the literature, including various special cases, can be derived from the original York equations. We present a compact set of equations for the slope, intercept, and newly unified standard errors.

Purely numerical methods based on finite-element approximation of the acoustic or elastic wave equation are becoming increasingly popular for the generation of synthetic seismograms. We present formulas for the grid dispersion and stability criteria for some popular finite-element methods (FEM) for wave propagation, namely, classical and spectral FEM. We develop an approach based on a generalized eigenvalue formulation to analyze the dispersive behavior of these FEMs for acoustic or elastic wave propagation that overcomes difficulties caused by irregular node spacing within the element and the use of high-order polynomials, as is the case for spectral FEM. Analysis reveals that for spectral FEM of order four or greater, dispersion is less than 0.2% at four to five nodes per wavelength, and dispersion is not angle dependent. New results can be compared with grid-dispersion results of some classical finite-difference methods (FDM) used for acoustic or elastic wave propagation. Analysis reveals that FDM and classical FEM require a larger sampling ratio than a spectral FEM to obtain results with the same degree of accuracy. The staggered-grid FDM is an efficient scheme, but the dispersion is angle dependent with larger values along the grid axes. On the other hand, spectral FEM of order four or greater is isotropic with small dispersion, making it attractive for simulations with long propagation times.

Recently, there has been an increased interest in applying the discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM) to wave propagation. In this work, we investigate the applicability of the interior penalty DGM to elastic wave propagation by analysing it's grid dispersion properties, with particular attention to the effect that different basis functions have on the numerical dispersion. We consider different types of basis functions that naturally yield a diagonal mass matrix. This is relevant to seismology because a diagonal mass matrix is tantamount to an explicit and efficient time marching scheme. We find that the Legendre basis functions that are traditionally used in the DGM introduce numerical dispersion and anisotropy. Furthermore, we find that using Lagrange basis functions along with the Gauss nodes has attractive advantages for numerical wave propagation.

We have formulated and implemented a discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM) for elastic wave propagation that allows for discontinuities in the displacement field to simulate fractures or faults. The approach is based on the interior-penalty formulation of DGM, and the fractures are simulated using the linear-slip model, which is incorporated into the weak formulation by including an additional term that is similar to the penalty term but uses the fracture compliance instead of an arbitrary penalty parameter. We have calibrated our results against an analytic solution of fracture-induced anisotropy for a set of elongated horizontal fractures, and we have evaluated numerical examples that simulate the reflection and transmission of waves at a fracture and at fracture interface waves. This method can further be used with models containing intersecting fractures and multiple fracture sets in 2D or 3D domains.

The numerical simulation of wave propagation in media with solid and fluid layers is essential for marine seismic exploration data analysis. The numerical methods for wave propagation that are applicable to this physical settings can be broadly classified as partitioned or monolithic: The partitioned methods use separate simulations in the fluid and solid regions and explicitly satisfy the interface conditions, whereas the monolithic methods use the same method in all the domain without any special treatment of the fluid-solid interface. Despite the accuracy of the partitioned methods, the monolithic methods are more common in practice because of their convenience. In this paper, we analyse the accuracy of several monolithic methods for wave propagation in the presence of a fluid-solid interface. The analysis is based on grid-dispersion criteria and numerical examples. The methods studied here include: the classical finite-difference method (FDM) based on the second-order displacement formulation of the elastic wave equation (DFDM), the staggered-grid finite difference method (SGFDM), the velocity-stress FDM with a standard grid (VSFDM) and the spectral-element method (SEM). We observe that among these, DFDM and the first-order SEM have a large amount of grid dispersion in the fluid region which renders them impractical for this application. On the other hand, SGFDM, VSFDM and SEM of order greater or equal to 2 yield accurate results for the body waves in the fluid and solid regions if a sufficient number of nodes per wavelength is used. All of the considered methods yield limited accuracy for the surface waves because the proper boundary conditions are not incorporated into the numerical scheme. Overall, we demonstrate both by analytic treatment and numerical experiments, that a first-order velocity-stress formulation can, in general, be used in dealing with fluid-solid interfaces without using staggered grids necessarily.