Local Search Optimization: A Comparison of Algorithms for Nonhyperbolic Travel-Time Analysis

Abstract

In the last decade, many works compared nonhyperbolic multiparametric travel-time approximations to perform velocity analysis. In these works, some analyses were accomplished, such as accuracy analysis and objective function analysis. However, no previous works compared the optimization algorithms to perform the inversion procedure concerning the processing time and the accuracy of each algorithm. As the shifted hyperbola showed the best results among the unimodal approximations in previous works, it was selected to be used in a comparison with five local search optimization algorithms. Each algorithm was compared concerning the accuracy by the minimization of the calculated curve to the observed curve. The travel-time curves tested here are conventional (PP) and converted wave (PS) reflection events from an offshore model. With this set of tests, it is possible to define which optimization algorithm presents the most reliable result when used with the shifted hyperbola equation concerning the processing time and the accuracy.