The research project Seismic waves in complex 3-D structures (SW3D) started October 1, 1993 as a consortium research project and was devoted to seismic waves as suggested by its title. Since 2010, the research has been extended to electromagnetic waves. The research project focuses primarily on the fundamental issues of high-frequency wave propagation in complex 3-D isotropic and anisotropic structures, which go beyond the traditional approaches. The ray method and its extensions, as well as its combination with other methods are mainly applied and investigated. The emphasis is put on new, stable, more efficient and flexible algorithms for both forward numerical modelling and inversion of wave fields in 3-D inhomogeneous, isotropic and anisotropic structures. Considerable attention is also devoted to applications involving S waves, converted waves, electromagnetic waves, wave splitting and coupling in anisotropic media, particle ground motions, etc.
Project SW3D was founded by Vlastislav Cerveny, who was the project leader in 1993-2012, and served as the project coleader and principal investigator until his death in 2022. The present principal investigators of SW3D are Ludek Klimes (project leader), Ivan Psencik, Vaclav Bucha and Petr Bulant. Graduate and postgraduate students of the Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, also participate in the project.
Each year a volume of serial "Seismic Waves in Complex 3-D Structures" (ISSN 2336-3827) has been issued.
The project was supported by a consortium, whose members were industrial companies, research institutions and universities. Project SW3D has currently no industrial member, and continues as a research project. The project is still open to industrial companies, research institutions and universities.