Comparison of Finite Difference Schemes for the Wave Equation Based on Dispersion

Finite difference techniques are widely used for the numerical simulation of time-dependent partial differential equations. In order to get better accuracy at low computational cost, researchers have attempted to develop higher order methods by improving other lower order methods. However, these types of methods usually suffer from a high degree of numerical dispersion. In this paper, we review three higher order finite difference methods, higher order compact (HOC), compact Pade based (CPD) and non-compact Pade based (NCPD) schemes for the acoustic wave equation. We present the stability analysis of the three schemes and derive dispersion characteristics for these schemes. The effects of Courant Friedrichs Lewy (CFL) number, propagation angle and number of cells per wavelength on dispersion are studied.