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Stress dependence of elastic wave dispersion and attenuation in fluid-saturated porous layered media

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Abstract

The fluid-saturated porous layered (FSPL) media widely exist in the Earth’s subsurface and their overall mechanical properties, microscopic pore structure and wave propagation characteristics are highly relevant to the in-situ stress. However, the effect of in-situ stress on wave propagation in FSPL media cannot be well explained with the existing theories. To fill this gap, we propose the dynamic equations for FSPL media under the effect of in-situ stress based on the theories of poroacoustoelasticity and anisotropic elasticity. Biot loss mechanism is considered to account for the stress-dependent wave dispersion and attenuation induced by global wave-induced fluid flow. Thomsen’s elastic anisotropy parameters are used to represent the anisotropy of the skeleton. A plane-wave analysis is implemented on dynamic equations yields the analytic solutions for fast and slow P waves and two S waves. Modelling results show that the elastic anisotropy parameters significantly determine the stress dependence of wave velocities. Vertical tortuosity and permeability have remarkable effects on fast and slow P-wave velocity curves and the corresponding attenuation peaks but have little effect on S-wave velocity. The difference in velocities of two S waves occurs when the FSPL medium is subjected to horizontal uniaxial stress, and the S wave along the stress direction has a larger velocity, which implies that the additional anisotropy other than that induced by the beddings appears due to horizontal stress. Besides, the predicted velocity results have the reasonable agreement with laboratory measurements. Our equations and results are relevant to a better understanding of wave propagation in deep strata, which provide some new theoretical insights in the rock physics, hydrocarbon exploration and stress detection in deep-strata shale reservoirs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the sponsorship of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42174139, 41974119, 42030103), the Laoshan Laboratory Science and Technology Innovation Program (Grant No. LSKJ202203406), the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 202206450050), and the Innovation Fund Project for Graduate Students of China University of Petroleum (East China) (Grant No. 23CX04003A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Fubin Chen, Zhaoyun Zong & Xingyao Yin

  2. Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, 266580, China

    Fubin Chen, Zhaoyun Zong & Xingyao Yin

  3. Centre for Exploration Geophysics, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Fubin Chen

  4. Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, 7031, Norway

    Alexey Stovas

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  1. Fubin Chen
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Chen, F., Zong, Z., Yin, X. et al. Stress dependence of elastic wave dispersion and attenuation in fluid-saturated porous layered media. Sci. China Earth Sci. 66, 2622–2634 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-022-1147-7

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