We are also grateful to Paradigm, GX Technology, and GDC for donating multiple licenses of 3-D migration, tomography, processing, and modeling software for our use in both teaching and research. For physical modeling, we need to move beyond the limited Plexiglas and resin materials that we formerly used to model elastic wave propagation. We have enlisted the help of UH ceramic and sculpture students to help us handcraft elastic models made from clay, porcelain and glasses. We are fusing and warping glass plates to simulate structurally deformed anisotropic materials. We are registering these models with a CAT scan devise to measure their geometries as built, rather than as designed.
Technique is essential - drying and baking too quickly causes our models to crack.
We have much to learn. Prof. Olin Johnson from UH computer science, and the first leader of the RCL, has rejoined AGL and will lead our effort in parallel computing on the new cost-effective cluster architecture. Our first products will be simple 2-D finite difference and pseudospectral modeling algorithms whose input will be compatible with a commercial ray tracing program , GX2. We expect 3-D finite difference and pseudospectral algorithms to be too expensive for the next several years. We will design simple models using GX3, and more complicated models using a Boolean geostatistics product from Roxar.