Abstract: We present an equivalent dual elastic wave separation equation, which simulates particle-velocity, pressure, divergence and curl fields in pure P- and S- modes. The method is used in full elastic wave numerical simulations. We give complete derivations of explicit high-order staggered-grid finite difference discrete equations, together with stability condition, dispersion relation and perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that pare P-waves and S-waves in final numerical results are completely separated in the method. Effect of absorbing boundary is perfect. Storage and computing time requirements are greatly reduced compared with previous works.

Key words: dual wavefield separation, elastic wave, stability condition, PML absorbing boundary condition, high-order staggered-grid, time-domain finite-difference