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In real problems of exploration seismology we deal with a heterogeneity of the nature of elastic waves interaction with the surface of a fracture by the propagation through it. The fracture is a complex heterogeneous structure. In some locations the surfaces of fractures are placed some distance apart and are separated by filling fluid or emptiness, in some places we can observe the gluing of surfaces, when under the action of pressure forces the fracture surfaces are closely adjoined to each other. In addition, fractures can be classified by the nature of saturation: fluid or gas. Obviously, for such a large variety in the structure of fractures, one cannot use only one model that satisfies all cases.

This article is concerned with description of developed mathematical fracture models which can be used for numerical solution of exploration seismology problems using the grid-characteristic method on unstructured triangular (in 2D-case) and tetrahedral (in 3D-case) meshes. The basis of the developed models is the concept of an infinitely thin fracture, whose aperture does not influence the wave processes in the fracture area. These fractures are represented by bound areas and contact boundaries with different conditions on contact and boundary surfaces. Such an approach significantly reduces the consumption of computer resources since there is no need to define the mesh inside the fracture. On the other side, it allows the fractures to be given discretely in the integration domain, therefore, one can observe qualitatively new effects, such as formation of diffractive waves and multiphase wave front due to multiple reflections between the surfaces of neighbor fractures, which cannot be observed by using effective fracture models actively used in computational seismology.

The computational modeling of seismic waves propagation through layers of mesofractures was produced using developed fracture models. The results were compared with the results of physical modeling in problems in the same statements.

This paper considers the inverse problem of seismic exploration — determining the structure of the media based on the recorded wave response from it. Large cracks are considered as target objects, whose size and position are to be determined.

he direct problem is solved using the grid-characteristic method. The method allows using physically based algorithms for calculating outer boundaries of the region and contact boundaries inside the region. The crack is assumed to be thin, a special condition on the crack borders is used to describe the crack.

The inverse problem is solved using convolutional neural networks. The input data of the neural network are seismograms interpreted as images. The output data are masks describing the medium on a structured grid. Each element of such a grid belongs to one of two classes — either an element of a continuous geological massif, or an element through which a crack passes. This approach allows us to consider a medium with an unknown number of cracks.

The neural network is trained using only samples with one crack. The final testing of the trained network is performed using additional samples with several cracks. These samples are not involved in the training process. The purpose of testing under such conditions is to verify that the trained network has sufficient generality, recognizes signs of a crack in the signal, and does not suffer from overtraining on samples with a single crack in the media.

The paper shows that a convolutional network trained on samples with a single crack can be used to process data with multiple cracks. The networks detects fairly small cracks at great depths if they are sufficiently spatially separated from each other. In this case their wave responses are clearly distinguishable on the seismogram and can be interpreted by the neural network. If the cracks are close to each other, artifacts and interpretation errors may occur. This is due to the fact that on the seismogram the wave responses of close cracks merge. This cause the network to interpret several cracks located nearby as one. It should be noted that a similar error would most likely be made by a human during manual interpretation of the data. The paper provides examples of some such artifacts, distortions and recognition errors.

An analytical solution is obtained for seismic wave fields in a spherically symmetric Earth. In the case of an arbitrary layered medium, the solution, which includes Bessel functions, is constructed by means of a differential sweep method. Asymptotic of Bessel functions is used for stable calculation of wave fields. It is shown that the classical asymptotic in the case of a sphere of large (in wavelengths) dimensions gives an error in the solution. The new asymptotic is used for efficient calculation of a solution without errors with high detail. A program has been created that makes it possible to carry out calculations for high-frequency (1 hertz and higher) teleseismic wave fields in a discrete (layered) sphere of planetary dimensions. Calculations can be carried even out on personal computers with OpenMP parallelization.

In the works of Burmin (2019) proposed a spherically symmetric model of the Earth. It is characterized by the fact that in it the outer core has a viscosity and, therefore, an effective shear modulus other than zero. For this model of the Earth, a highly detailed calculation was carried out with a carrier frequency of 1 hertz. As a result of the analytical calculation, it was found that highfrequency oscillations of small amplitude, the so-called “precursors”, appear ahead of the PKP waves. An analytical calculation showed that the theoretical seismograms for this model of the Earth are in many respects similar to the experimental data. This confirms the correctness of the ideas underlying its construction.

The paper presents results of numerical modeling of stress-strain state of jack-up rigs used for shelf hydrocarbon reservoirs exploitation. The work studied the equilibrium stress state of a jack-up rig standing on seafloor and mechanical behavior of the rig under seismic loading. Surface elastic wave caused by a distant earthquake acts a reason for the loading. Stability of jack-up rig is the main topic of the research, as stability can be lost due to redistribution of stresses and strains in the elements of the rig due to seismic loading. Modeling results revealed that seismic loading can indeed lead to intermittent growth of stresses in particular elements of the rig’s support legs resulting into stability loss. These results were obtained using the finite element-based numerical scheme. The paper contains the proof of modeling results convergence obtained from analysis of one problem — the problem of stresses and strains distributions for the contact problem of a rigid cylinder indenting on elastic half space. The comparison between numerical and analytical solutions proved the used numerical scheme to be correct, as obtained results converged. The paper presents an analysis of the different factors influencing the mechanical behavior of the studied system. These factors include the degree of seismic loading, mechanical properties of seafloor sediments, and depth of support legs penetration. The results obtained from numerical modeling made it possible to formulate preliminary conclusions regarding the need to take site-specific conditions into account whenever planning the use of jack-up rigs, especially, in the regions with seismic activity. The approach presented in the paper can be used to evaluate risks related to offshore hydrocarbon reservoirs exploitation and development, while the reported numerical scheme can be used to solve some contact problems of theory of elasticity with the need to analyze dynamic processes.