A semi-empirical velocity-porosity-clay model for petrophysical interpretation of P- and S-velocities

We design a velocity–porosity model for sand-shale environments with the emphasis on its application to petrophysical interpretation of compressional and shear velocities. In order to achieve this objective, we extend the velocity–porosity model proposed by Krief et al., to account for the effect of clay content in sandstones, using the published laboratory experiments on rocks and well log data in a wide range of porosities and clay contents. The model of Krief et al. works well for clean compacted rocks. It assumes that compressional and shear velocities in a porous fluid-saturated rock obey Gassmann formulae with the Biot compliance coefficient. In order to use this model for clay-rich rocks, we assume that the bulk and shear moduli of the grain material, and the dependence of the compliance on porosity, are functions of the clay content. Statistical analysis of published laboratory data shows that the moduli of the matrix grain material are best defined by low Hashin–Shtrikman bounds. The parameters of the model include the bulk and shear moduli of the sand and clay mineral components as well as coefficients which define the dependence of the bulk and shear compliance on porosity and clay content. The constants of the model are determined by a multivariate non-linear regression fit for P- and S-velocities as functions of porosity and clay content using the data acquired in the area of interest. In order to demonstrate the potential application of the proposed model to petrophysical interpretation, we design an inversion procedure, which allows us to estimate porosity, saturation and/or clay content from compressional and shear velocities. Testing of the model on laboratory data and a set of well logs from Carnarvon Basin, Australia, shows good agreement between predictions and measurements. This simple velocity-porosity-clay semi-empirical model could be used for more reliable petrophysical interpretation of compressional and shear velocities obtained from well logs or surface seismic data.     

Ray tracing for continuously rotated local coordinates belonging to a specified anisotropy

Conventional ray tracing for arbitrarily anisotropic and heterogeneous media is expressed in terms of 21 elastic moduli belonging to a fixed, global, Cartesian coordinate system. Our principle objective is to obtain a new ray-tracing formulation, which takes advantage of the fact that the number of independent elastic moduli is often less than 21, and that the anisotropy thus has a simpler nature locally, as is the case for transversely isotropic and orthorhombic media. We have expressed material properties and ray-tracing quantities (e.g., ray-velocity and slowness vectors) in a local anisotropy coordinate system with axes changing directions continuously within the model. In this manner, ray tracing is formulated in terms of the minimum number of required elastic parameters, e.g., four and nine parameters for P-wave propagation in transversely isotropic and orthorhombic media, plus a number of parameters specifying the rotation matrix connecting local and global coordinates. In particular, we parameterize this rotation matrix by one, two, or three Euler angles. In the ray-tracing equations, the slowness vector differentiated with respect to traveltime is related explicitly to the corresponding differentiated slowness vector for non-varying rotation and the cross product of the ray-velocity and slowness vectors. Our formulation is advantageous with respect to user-friendliness, efficiency, and memory usage. Another important aspect is that the anisotropic symmetry properties are conserved when material properties are determined in arbitrary points by linear interpolation, spline function evaluation, or by other means.     

Exact Elastodynamic Green Functions for Simple Types of Anisotropy Derived from Higher-Order Ray Theory

Using higher-order ray theory, we derived exact elastodynamic Green functions for three simple types of homogeneous anisotropy. The first type displays an orthorhombic symmetry, the other two types display transverse isotropy. In all cases, the slowness surfaces of waves are either ellipsoids, spheroids or spheres. All three Green functions are expressed by a ray series with a finite number of terms. The Green functions can be written in explicit and elementary form similar to the Stokes solution for isotropy. In two Green functions, the higher-order ray approximations form a near-singularity term, which is significant near a kiss singularity. In the third Green function, the higher-order ray approximations also form a near-field term, which is significant near the point source. No effect connected with the line singularity was observed.     

一维有耗散波动方程的奇性分析与小波

对系数有强奇性（间断）的波动方程,用通常的线性化简的方法时往往会将数值小但奇性强的项略去,导致结果严重失真。利用小波变换这一工具,可以在化简时保留奇性的主要部分,使所得的结果从奇性分析的观点看来更为精确。此方法曾被用来处理系数有间断的一维波动方程,得到了与精确解的奇性主部完全一致的解．在本文中,我们改进了用小波变换作奇性化简的方法,对系数有间断的一维有耗散波动方程求得了与精确解奇性主部完全一致的解。这说明利用小波分析作奇性化简的方法对高频近似及奇性分析问题是普遍适用的．     

Quasi-shear wave ray tracing by wavefront construction in 3-D, anisotropic media

Wavefront construction (WFC) methods provide robust tools for computing ray theoretical traveltimes and amplitudes for multivalued wavefields. They simulate a wavefront propagating through a model using a mesh that is refined adaptively to ensure accuracy as rays diverge during propagation. However, an implementation for quasi-shear (qS) waves in anisotropic media can be very difficult, since the two qS slowness surfaces and wavefronts often intersect at shear-wave singularities. This complicates the task of creating the initial wavefront meshes, as a particular wavefront will be the faster qS-wave in some directions, but slower in others. Analogous problems arise during interpolation as the wavefront propagates, when an existing mesh cell that crosses a singularity on the wavefront is subdivided. Particle motion vectors provide the key information for correctly generating and interpolating wavefront meshes, as they will normally change slowly along a wavefront. Our implementation tests particle motion vectors to ensure correct initialization and propagation of the mesh for the chosen wave type and to confirm that the vectors change gradually along the wavefront. With this approach, the method provides a robust and efficient algorithm for modeling shear-wave propagation in a 3-D, anisotropic medium. We have successfully tested the qS-wave WFC in transversely isotropic models that include line singularities and kiss singularities. Results from a VTI model with a strong vertical gradient in velocity also show the accuracy of the implementation. In addition, we demonstrate that the WFC method can model a wavefront with a triplication caused by intrinsic anisotropy and that its multivalued traveltimes are mapped accurately. Finally, qS-wave synthetic seismograms are validated against an independent, full-waveform solution.     

Elasticity of single-crystal SmAlO3, GdAlO3 and ScAlO3 perovskites

The adiabatic single-crystal elastic moduli of SmAlO₃, GdAlO₃ and ScAlO₃, all with the orthorhombic perovskite structure, have been measured by Brillouin spectroscopy under ambient conditions. These 3 compounds display various degrees of crystallographic distortion from the ideal cubic perovskite structure. We find that longitudinal moduli in directions parallel to the axes of a pseudocubic subcell are nearly equal and insensitive to distortions of the crystal structure from cubic symmetry, whereas, the moduli C₁₁ and C₂₂, parallel to the orthorhombic axes, display pronounced anisotropy with the exception of ScAlO₃. The shear moduli also correlate with distortion from cubic symmetry, as measured by rotation, or tilt angles, of the AlO₆ octahedra. Our data support the observations of Liebermann et al. that perovskite-structure compounds define consistent elasticity trends relating bulk modulus and molar volume, and sound speed and mean atomic weight. These relationships have been used to estimate bulk and shear moduli for the high-pressure polymorphs of CaSiO₃ and MgSiO₃ with the perovskite structure.     

Analytic expressions for the velocity sensitivity to the elastic moduli for the most general anisotropic media

For non‐linear kinematic inversion of elastic anisotropy parameters and related investigations of the sensitivity of seismic data, the derivatives of the wavespeed (phase velocity and group velocity) with respect to the individual elastic moduli are required. This paper presents two analytic methods, called the eigenvalue and eigenvector methods, to compute the derivatives of the wavespeeds for wave propagation in a general anisotropic medium, which may be defined by up to 21 density‐normalized elastic moduli. The first method employs a simple and compact form of the eigenvalue (phase velocity) and a general form of the group velocity, and directly yields general expressions of the derivatives for the three wave modes (qP, qS₁, qS₂). The second method applies simple eigenvector solutions of the three wave modes and leads to other general forms of the derivatives. These analytic formulae show that the derivatives are, in general, functions of the 21 elastic moduli as well as the wave propagation direction, and they reflect the sensitivity of the wavespeeds to the individual elastic moduli. Meanwhile, we give results of numerical investigations with some examples for particular simplified forms of anisotropy. They show that the eigenvalue method is suitable for the qP‐, qS₁‐ and qS₂‐wave computations and mitigates the singularity problem for the two quasi‐shear waves. The eigenvector method is preferable to the eigenvalue method for the group velocity and the derivative of the phase velocity because it involves simpler expressions and independent computations, but for the derivative of the group velocity the derivative of the eigenvector is required. Both methods tackle the singularity problem and are applicable to any degree of seismic anisotropy for all three wave modes.     

An experimental investigation of the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds on two-phase aggregate elastic properties

Existing data supporting or disputing the validity of the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds on the elastic properties of multiphase aggregates often do not consider porosity, elastic anisotropy, or experimental errors. In this experiment, two-phase aggregates of KCl + (NH₄Br, TlBr, CsCl, NaCl, Cu, and LiF) at every 20% volume fraction were vacuum hot-pressed and the compressional and shear velocities were measured with a computer-controlled ultrasonic interferometer to ±0.2%. The ratio of the shear moduli, μ, (phase 2/KCl) varied from about 1 to 5, producing a range of separations between the theoretical two-phase Hashin-Shtrikman bounds for the composites. Samples were generally 99% or better of the theoretical density, with less than 1% velocity anisotropy. Porosity corrections were applied assuming spherical pores, based on the observed velocity-pressure behaviour. Velocities agreed with the HS bounds calculated from the end-member single-crystal stiffnesses when anisotropy was taken into account.The velocity data were also used to estimate the bulk modulus, K, and shear modulus of the second phase by means of the matrix method — taking the K and μ of KCl as known and calculating the moduli of the other phase assuming that the measured velocities were the two-phase Hashin-Shtrikman bounds or the Voigt-Reuss-Hill average. A narrow range of moduli estimates results only if the μ's of both phases are fairly closely matched. For μ's mismatched by a factor of 5, the theoretical uncertainty in the estimates can be 10 times larger than the experimental uncertainty. Estimates using the VRH average can lie outside the HS-based results.     

New anisotropic covariance models and estimation of anisotropic parameters based on the covariance tensor identity

 Many heterogeneous media and environmental processes are statistically anisotropic. In this paper we focus on range anisotropy, that is, stochastic processes with variograms that have direction dependent correlation lengths and direction independent sill. We distinguish between two classes of anisotropic covariance models: Class (A) models are reducible to isotropic after rotation and rescaling operations. Class (B) models can be separated into a product of one-dimensional functions oriented along the principal axes. We propose a new Class (A) model with multiscale properties that has applications in subsurface hydrology. We also present a family of Class (B) models based on non-Euclidean distance metrics that are generated by superellipsoidal functions. Next, we propose a new method for determining the orientation of the principal axes and the degree of anisotropy, i.e., the ratio(s) of the correlation lengths. This information reduces the degrees of freedom of anisotropic variograms and thus simplifies the estimation procedure. In particular, Class (A) models are reduced to isotropic and Class (B) models to one-dimensional functions. Our method is based on an explicit relation between the second-rank slope tensor (SRST), which can be estimated from the data, and the covariance tensor. The procedure is conceptually simple and numerically efficient. It is more accurate for regular (on-grid) data distributions, but it can also be used for sparse (off-grid) spatial distributions. In the case of non-differentiable random fields the method can be extended using generalized derivatives. We illustrate its implementation with numerical simulations.     

任意各向异性介质相(群)速度的计算

反映弹性波在各向异性介质中传播特性的两个基础的物理量是相速度和群速度.本文在总结前人工作的基础上,提出任意各向异性介质相(群)速度的计算方案:首先推导各自计算公式,其次考虑剪切波奇点的特殊性,再次令其遵循相应约束条件,最后,采用三个计算实例检验该方案的正确性和有效性.通过对计算结果的分析以及各向异性理论预测可以加深对各向异性特有性质(如剪切波奇点、群速度多值性)的理解,有助于增强我们对任意各向异性理论的基本认识.     

TI介质各向异性速度多参数分析

本文采用横向各向同性（TI）介质弹性参数的Anderson表征方式,利用小偏移距同类反射波或转换波信息重建纵横波速,以中长排列同类反射波或转换反射波信息重建各向异性因子图像,分步进行深度域TI介质中P、SV波多参数各向异性速度分析,以理论模型验证了方法的可行性.最后给出宽角反射PP与SS波折合剖面的速度与各向异性因子解释结果.     

一维波动方程的奇性反演与小波

利用线性化的技巧及Ｇ．Ｂｅｙｌｋｉｎ引进的奇性反演的概念，使波动方程非均匀背景场的反演问题有了实质性的进展，但在进行线性化简时，往往会将数值小但奇性高的项略去，因而使反演结果失真，本文利用小波变换这一工具，在化简时保留了奇性的主要部分，从而使反演所得的结果从奇性分析的观点看来更为。     

Inversion of arrival-times in a region of dilatancy anisotropy

Shear-wave splitting has been identified in many three-component seismograms from two separate field experiments on a section of the North Anatolian Fault in North-West Turkey. These observations are consistent with shear-wave propagation through a zone of extensive-dilitancy anisotropy. A preliminary attempt has been made to confirm this interpretation by simultaneously inverting suites of arrival-times for hypocentral locations and for parameters describing an anisotropic halfspace. Although the inversion procedure is not globally convergent, it is possible to recognize the true solution by systematically varying the initial conditions. Applied to selected data sets, the inversion defines several anisotropic models that fit the data significantly better than a simple isotropic model, and display the anisotropy required by the shear-wave splitting. However, most of these anisotropic models are not superior when they are used to individually locate events in a much larger data set. However, for each experiment, there is a single model that produces clearly superior locations for the larger data sets than those of other anisotropic or simple isotropic models. Both models display similar velocity variations which are characteristic of propagation through distributions of biplanar cracks displaying orthorhombic symmetry. The principal axes of the two models are oriented in similar directions and are within 20° of the principal axis of regional stress derived from fault-plane solutions. The solutions indicate low velocities close to the tensional axis, as would be expected in extensive-dilatancy anisotropy.     

中主应力对击实黄土强度和变形特性的影响

为研究中主应力对击实黄土强度和变形特性的影响,利用空心圆柱扭剪仪对击实黄土进行主应力轴方向为0°的定向剪切试验,重点探讨中主应力系数b对剪切过程中击实黄土强度和变形的影响。试验结果表明,在不同中主应力系数下试样的广义剪应力-应变曲线发展模式基本相同,其曲线差异不显著,剪切后期试样表现出显著的延性特性。中主应力对击实黄土的强度影响较大,b=0.25时归一化强度最大,而b=0.5时最小。当b从0到0.25时强度增加;当b=0.25时强度达到峰值,随着b的继续增加,强度迅速减小;当b=0.5时强度达到最小值,随着b的进一步增加,强度先增大后减小。随着中主应力系数b的增加,击实黄土的有效内摩擦角呈现增大的趋势,强度参数在b=0时最小,b=0.75时最大,b=1(三轴拉伸)高于b=0(三轴压缩)。     

Elastic properties of eclogite rocks from the Bohemian massif

Summary Compressional velocity anistropy has been studied in detail at atmospheric pressure for 78 specimens of 23 types of eclogite rocks from the Bohemian massif. For nine of these rock types, compressional and shear velocities were measured as a function of pressure to750 MPa at room temperature. The velocity anisotropy for both compressional and shear waves is less than4% at high pressure. The velocities increase with increasing garnet content and decrease with increasing symplectitization. The Moldanubian eclogites have significantly higher velocities, on the average, than the eclogites from the Kruné hory crystalline complex, although the densities of both groups are comparable.     

Generalized anisotropy parameters and approximations of attenuations and velocities in viscoelastic media of arbitrary anisotropy type – theoretical and experimental aspects*

Seismic anisotropy in geological media is now widely accepted. Parametrizations and explicit approximations for the velocities in such media, considered as purely elastic and moderately anisotropic, are now standards and have even been extended to arbitrary types of anisotropy. In the case of attenuating media, some authors have also recently published different parametrizations and velocity and attenuation approximations in viscoelastic anisotropic media of particular symmetry type (e.g., transversely isotropic or orthorhombic). This paper extends such work to media of arbitrary anisotropy type, that is to say to triclinic media. In the case of homogeneous waves and using the so‐called ‘correspondence principle’, it is shown that the viscoelastic equations (for the phase velocities, phase slownesses, moduli, wavenumbers, etc.) are formally identical to the corresponding purely elastic equations available in the literature provided that all the corresponding quantities are complex (except the unit vector in the propagation direction that remains real). In contrast to previous work, the new parametrization uses complex anisotropy parameters and constitutes a simple extension to viscoelastic media of previous work dealing with non‐attenuating elastic media of arbitrary anisotropy type. We make the link between these new complex anisotropy parameters and measurable parameters, as well as with previously published anisotropy parameters, demonstrating the usefulness of the new parametrization. We compute the explicit complete directional dependence of the exact and of the approximate (first and higher‐order perturbation) complex phase velocities of the three body waves (qP, qS1 and qS2). The exact equations are successfully compared with the ultrasonic phase velocities and phase attenuations of the three body waves measured in a strongly attenuating water‐saturated sample of Vosges sandstone exhibiting moderate velocity anisotropy but very strong attenuation anisotropy. The approximate formulas are checked on experimental data. Compared to the exact solutions, the errors observed on the first‐order approximate velocities are small (<1%) for qP‐waves and moderate (<10%) for qS‐waves. The corresponding errors on the quality factor Q are moderate (<6%) for qP‐waves but critically large (up to 160%) for the qS‐waves. The use of higher‐order approximations substantially improves the accuracy, for instance typical maximum relative errors do not exceed 0.06% on all the velocities and 0.6% on all the quality factors Q, for third‐order approximations. All the results obtained on other rock samples confirm the results obtained on this rock. The simplicity of the derivations and the generality of the results are striking and particularly convenient for practical applications.     

Azimuthal Seismic Amplitude Variation with Offset and Azimuth Inversion in Weakly Anisotropic Media with Orthorhombic Symmetry

Seismic amplitude variation with offset and azimuth (AVOaz) inversion is well known as a popular and pragmatic tool utilized to estimate fracture parameters. A single set of vertical fractures aligned along a preferred horizontal direction embedded in a horizontally layered medium can be considered as an effective long-wavelength orthorhombic medium. Estimation of Thomsen’s weak-anisotropy (WA) parameters and fracture weaknesses plays an important role in characterizing the orthorhombic anisotropy in a weakly anisotropic medium. Our goal is to demonstrate an orthorhombic anisotropic AVOaz inversion approach to describe the orthorhombic anisotropy utilizing the observable wide-azimuth seismic reflection data in a fractured reservoir with the assumption of orthorhombic symmetry. Combining Thomsen’s WA theory and linear-slip model, we first derive a perturbation in stiffness matrix of a weakly anisotropic medium with orthorhombic symmetry under the assumption of small WA parameters and fracture weaknesses. Using the perturbation matrix and scattering function, we then derive an expression for linearized PP-wave reflection coefficient in terms of P- and S-wave moduli, density, Thomsen’s WA parameters, and fracture weaknesses in such an orthorhombic medium, which avoids the complicated nonlinear relationship between the orthorhombic anisotropy and azimuthal seismic reflection data. Incorporating azimuthal seismic data and Bayesian inversion theory, the maximum a posteriori solutions of Thomsen’s WA parameters and fracture weaknesses in a weakly anisotropic medium with orthorhombic symmetry are reasonably estimated with the constraints of Cauchy a priori probability distribution and smooth initial models of model parameters to enhance the inversion resolution and the nonlinear iteratively reweighted least squares strategy. The synthetic examples containing a moderate noise demonstrate the feasibility of the derived orthorhombic anisotropic AVOaz inversion method, and the real data illustrate the inversion stabilities of orthorhombic anisotropy in a fractured reservoir.     

Simulation of full-waveform log in saturated cracked formations using Hudson's approach

We study the propagation of elastic waves that are generated in a fluid‐filled borehole surrounded by a cracked transversely isotropic medium. In the model studied the anisotropy and borehole axes coincide. To obtain the effective elastic moduli of a cracked medium we have applied Hudson's theory that enables the determination of the overall properties as a function of the crack orientation in relation to the symmetry axis of the anisotropic medium. This theory takes into account the hydrodynamic mechanism of the elastic‐wave attenuation caused by fluid filtration from the cracks into a porous matrix. We have simulated the full waveforms generated by an impulse source of finite length placed on the borehole axis. The kinematic and dynamic parameters of the compressional, shear and Stoneley waves as functions of the matrix permeability, crack orientation and porosity were studied. The modelling results demonstrated the influence of the crack‐system parameters (orientation and porosity) on the velocities and amplitudes of all wave types. The horizontally orientated cracks result in maximal decrease of the elastic‐wave parameters (velocities and amplitudes). Based on the fact that the shear‐ and Stoneley‐wave velocities in a transversely isotropic medium are determined by different shear moduli, we demonstrate the feasibility of the acoustic log to identify formations with close to horizontal crack orientations.     

Effective ellipsoidal models for wavefield extrapolation in tilted orthorhombic media

Wavefield computations using the ellipsoidally anisotropic extrapolation operator offer significant cost reduction compared to that for the orthorhombic case, especially when the symmetry planes are tilted and/or rotated. However, ellipsoidal anisotropy does not provide accurate wavefield representation or imaging for media of orthorhombic symmetry. Therefore, we propose the use of ‘effective ellipsoidally anisotropic’ models that correctly capture the kinematic behaviour of wavefields for tilted orthorhombic (TOR) media. We compute effective velocities for the ellipsoidally anisotropic medium using kinematic high-frequency representation of the TOR wavefield, obtained by solving the TOR eikonal equation. The effective model allows us to use the cheaper ellipsoidally anisotropic wave extrapolation operators. Although the effective models are obtained by kinematic matching using high-frequency asymptotic, the resulting wavefield contains most of the critical wavefield components, including frequency dependency and caustics, if present, with reasonable accuracy. The proposed methodology offers a much better cost versus accuracy trade-off for wavefield computations in TOR media, particularly for media of low to moderate anisotropic strength. Furthermore, the computed wavefield solution is free from shear-wave artefacts as opposed to the conventional finite-difference based TOR wave extrapolation scheme. We demonstrate applicability and usefulness of our formulation through numerical tests on synthetic TOR models.