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Investigation of the Effects of Fracture Orientation and Saturation on the Vp/Vs Ratio and Their Implications

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Abstract

Fractures are widely distributed within the Earth’s crust and have a substantial influence on wave propagation. Although many studies have been conducted on fracture characterization based on seismic anisotropic attributes, natural horizontal fractures and hydraulic fracture networks have yet to be characterized. Here, we investigate the influence of the fracture orientation and saturation on the Vp/Vs ratio via laboratory observations and theoretical modeling. Then, we discuss the feasibility of using the Vp/Vs ratio to predict natural horizontal fractures and evaluate hydraulic fracture networks. Our study demonstrates that an abnormally low Vp/Vs ratio, together with a lack of shear wave splitting, could be used to predict horizontal fractures. Fracture network development that results from hydraulic fracturing stimulation is associated with a much higher Vp/Vs ratio and no shear wave splitting; these two characteristics could be used to estimate fracture development and evaluate hydraulic fracturing stimulation.

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Abbreviations

Vp/Vs:

Ratio of the P-wave velocity to the S-wave velocity

\({\sigma _i}\) :

Stress tensor

\({\varepsilon _{\text{f}}}\) :

Crack/fracture density

\({K_0}\) :

Bulk modulus of the solid matrix

\({v_0}\) :

Poisson’s ratio of the solid matrix

\({E_0}\) :

Young’s modulus of the solid matrix

\(K\) :

Bulk modulus of the cracked rocks

\(v\) :

Poisson’s ratio of the cracked rocks

G :

Shear modulus

\(\gamma\) :

Shear wave velocity anisotropy

\(S_{{ijkl}}^{{}}\) :

Element of the elastic compliance tensor

\(S_{{ijkl}}^{0}\) :

Compliance tensor of the intact rock

\(\Delta {S_{ijkl}}\) :

Fracture compliance tensor

\({\alpha _{ij}}\) :

Second rank of the crack/fracture tensor

\({\beta _{ijkl}}\) :

Fourth rank of the crack/fracture tensor

\({B_N}\) :

Normal terms of the fracture compliance tensor

\({B_{\text{T}}}\) :

Shear terms of the fracture compliance tensor

\(a\) :

Radius of the fractures

\({\delta _{\text{f}}}\) :

Coupling factor between the stress and the fluid pressure

\(\chi\) :

Random fracture density sensitivity coefficient

LF:

Low-frequency limit

HF:

High-frequency limit

SWS:

Shear wave splitting defined as \(100 \times \frac{{{V_{{\text{SH}}}} - {V_{{\text{SV}}}}}}{{{V_{{\text{SV}}}}}}\%\).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Fund Projects (41804127, 41831281, and 41804105), the Major National Project Program (2017ZX05018-005), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2462018YJRC008). We would like to thank Dr. Jingbo Wang from the Sinopec Exploration Company for the discussion regarding natural fractures in shales.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resource and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China

    Pinbo Ding & Xiangyang Li

  2. Center of Rock Mechanics and Geohazards, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, 312000, China

    Ding Wang

  3. CNPC Key Laboratory of Geophysical Exploration, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China

    Pinbo Ding & Xiangyang Li

  4. PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas field Company, Chengdu, 610051, China

    Guidong Di

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  1. Pinbo Ding
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Correspondence to Ding Wang.

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Ding, P., Wang, D., Di, G. et al. Investigation of the Effects of Fracture Orientation and Saturation on the Vp/Vs Ratio and Their Implications. Rock Mech Rock Eng 52, 3293–3304 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-019-01770-3

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