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Course Offerings

Course Details

Spring 2011-2012
GEO 441 / APC 441   No Pass/D/Fail

Computational Geophysics

Jeroen Tromp

An introduction to weak numerical methods, in particular finite-element and spectral-element methods, used in computational geophysics. Basic surface & volume elements, representation of fields, quadrature, assembly, local versus global meshes, domain decomposition, time marching & stability, parallel implementation & message-passing, and load-balancing. In the context of parameter estimation and 'imaging', will explore data assimilation techniques and related adjoint methods. The course offers hands-on lab experience in meshing complicated surfaces & volumes as well as numerically solving partial differential equations relevant to geophysics

Sample reading list:
Hughes, T.J.R., 2000, "The Finite Element Method", Dover
Tromp, J., Komatitsch, D., and Liu, Q., 2008, "Spectral-element & Adjoint Methods in Seismology"
Commun. in Comput. Phys., 3, 1-32.

Reading/Writing assignments:
Final grade will based upon the computer labs (80%) and a final oral presentation to the group (20%).

Requirements/Grading:
Lab Reports - 80%
Oral Presentation(s) - 20%

Other Requirements:
Not Open to Freshmen.

Prerequisites and Restrictions:
Courses in partial differential equations and multi-variable calculus; experience with a computer language and basic programming skills..

Other information:
Students will be provided with access to a facility with at least 11 high-end linux workstations and an LCD projector & screen for the computer labs.

Schedule/Classroom assignment:

Class numberSectionTimeDaysRoomEnrollmentStatus
41199 L01 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm M W   Guyot Hall   154   Enrolled:5 Limit:10