SHaxi

SHaxi performs elastic and anelastic global SH wave propagation in the Earth's mantle for axi-symmetric geometries.

Project Description

Authors: Gunnar Jahnke, Michael Thorne, Heiner Igel

The SHaxi program generates global high resolution SH wave seismograms and wavefield snapshots using high performance parallel computers or PC networks.

The algorithm is based on finite difference operators and staggered grids. For use on high performance parallel computers with distributed memory architecture or on PC clusters a domain decomposition of the model space was implemented, using Fortran 90 and MPI.

Possible models are restricted to axi-symmetric geometries which allows the computation of synthetic seismograms at dominant periods down to 2.5 seconds for global mantle models.

The code is verified against an analytical solution and the implemented ring-source is well understood. Appropriate routines for convenient definition of user-defined models are implemented and explained.

The SHaxi method has already proven to be a valuable method for computing global synthetic seismograms at high frequencies and for studying the seismic waveform effects from models where rotational symmetry may be assumed.

The code can be downloaded from: http://svn.geophysik.uni-muenchen.de/trac/shaxi

Detailed information abut the method can be found in Jahnke et al. (2008) as well as in the PhD thesis of Gunnar Jahnke.