A finite difference formulation is developed for computing the frequency domain electromagnetic fields due to a point source in the presence of two‐dimensional conductivity structures. Computing costs are minimized by reducing the full three‐dimensional problem to a series of two‐dimensional problems. This is accomplished by Fourier transforming the problem into the x-wavenumber [Formula: see text] domain; here the x-direction is parallel to the structural strike. In the [Formula: see text] domain, two coupled partial differential equations for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are obtained. These equations resemble those of two coupled transmission sheets. For a requisite number of [Formula: see text] values these equations are solved by the finite difference method on a rectangular grid on the y-z plane. Application of the inverse Fourier transform to the solutions thus obtained gives the electric and magnetic fields in the space domain. The formulation is general; complex two‐dimensional structures containing either magnetic or electric dipole sources can be modeled. A quantitative test of accuracy is presented which compares the finite difference results to analytic results for a magnetic dipole on a homogeneous half‐space. In addition, the computed results for a two‐dimensional model are qualitatively compared to published results for a three‐dimensional analog model. Synthetic field data for surveys over several different bodies of anomalous conductivity are presented. Two of these demonstrate the nonuniqueness of single frequency data interpretation. Results also show that the characteristic form of the response given by the anomalous body can be heavily dependent upon the structure of the host medium. This is especially true for horizontal magnetic dipole source surveys.
A finite‐difference formulation of the coaxial‐loop or wire‐loop transient electromagnetic (EM) prospecting systems is used to model the fields from a buried cylindrical conductor whose axis is coincident with that of the field system. Solutions are obtained directly in the time domain. The formulation is implicit and two‐dimensional (2-D) in space. The variable‐directions method reduces each advance of one step in time from one 2-D problem to a large number of one‐dimensional (1-D) problems. The result is a reduction in computational effort. In order to avoid including the air in the finite‐difference grid, an integral equation approach is used to formulate the surface boundary condition. Thus, two sets of 1-D finite‐difference solutions and one Fredholm integral equation solution are required for each step forward in time. Comparison with analytical solutions shows excellent agreement in the case of a four‐layer earth. All computations were carried out for a perfectly conducting basement, but the method can be used for finitely conducting basement as well. If the basement is an insulator, an additional integral equation solution is required on the lower boundary. Results for a buried cylindrical conductor show that there is a high degree of sensitivity to conductor size. Inversion of transients to a stratified model can be useful if the effect of finite conductor size is taken into account. For cylindrical conductors with lateral extent comparable to or larger than the source‐receiver separation, the inversion results are valid. For conductors with lateral extent small compared with source‐receiver separation, the inversion will yield a stratified model which shows better agreement between actual and inverted thicknesses than resistivities. The involved resistivities are somewhat higher than those actually present in this case.
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