Physical properties of shale at temperature and pressure

Geophysics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 1391-1401 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Johnston

Deformational properties, P‐wave and S‐wave velocities, and electrical resistivity were measured for three North Sea Malm shales in the laboratory under pressures to 800 bars and temperatures to 100 °C. These data were used to evaluate how factors such as mineralogy, microstructure, compaction, and pore‐fluid conductivity affect a shale’s seismic and electrical responses. Deformation in the shales is dominated by inelastic processes which cause time‐dependent changes in velocity, resistivity, and pore pressure. Overall, shales are less sensitive to pressure changes as compared to sandstones of similar porosity. However, changes in temperature result in large changes in physical properties as compared to sandstones or shaly sands. P‐wave and S‐wave velocities may decrease by as much as 10 percent over the temperature range studied, and calculated activation energies for surface conduction are nearly twice those observed in shaly sands. These comparisons emphasize fundamental differences in fabric among the clastic rocks and suggest that solid‐liquid physical and electrical interactions may play an important role in controlling a shale’s seismic or electrical response to compaction. The results of this study have impact on the well‐log interpretation of shaly sands and the determination of shale properties from seismic data.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc S. Boxberg ◽  
Mandy Duda ◽  
Katrin Löer ◽  
Wolfgang Friederich ◽  
Jörg Renner

<p>Determining elastic wave velocities and intrinsic attenuation of cylindrical rock samples by transmission of ultrasound signals appears to be a simple experimental task, which is performed routinely in a range of geoscientific and engineering applications requiring characterization of rocks in field and laboratory. P- and S-wave velocities are generally determined from first arrivals of signals excited by specifically designed transducers. A couple of methods exist for determining the intrinsic attenuation, most of them relying either on a comparison between the sample under investigation and a standard material or on investigating the same material for various geometries.</p><p>Of the three properties of interest, P-wave velocity is certainly the least challenging one to determine, but dispersion phenomena lead to complications with the consistent identification of frequency-dependent first breaks. The determination of S-wave velocities is even more hampered by converted waves interfering with the S-wave arrival. Attenuation estimates are generally subject to higher uncertainties than velocity measurements due to the high sensitivity of amplitudes to experimental procedures. The achievable accuracy of determining S-wave velocity and intrinsic attenuation using standard procedures thus appears to be limited.</p><p>We pursue the determination of velocity and attenuation of rock samples based on full waveform modeling and inversion. Assuming the rock sample to be homogeneous - an assumption also underlying standard analyses - we quantify P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity and intrinsic P- and S-wave attenuation from matching a single ultrasound trace with a synthetic one numerically modelled using the spectral finite-element software packages SPECFEM2D and SPECFEM3D. We find that enough information on both velocities is contained in the recognizable reflected and converted phases even when nominal P-wave sensors are used. Attenuation characteristics are also inherently contained in the relative amplitudes of these phases due to their different travel paths. We present recommendations for and results from laboratory measurements on cylindrical samples of aluminum and rocks with different geometries that we also compare with various standard analysis methods. The effort put into processing for our approach is particularly justified when accurate values and/or small variations, for example in response to changing P-T-conditions, are of interest or when the amount of sample material is limited.</p>


1996 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 1704-1713 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Catchings ◽  
W. H. K. Lee

Abstract The 17 January 1994, Northridge, California, earthquake produced strong ground shaking at the Cedar Hills Nursery (referred to here as the Tarzana site) within the city of Tarzana, California, approximately 6 km from the epicenter of the mainshock. Although the Tarzana site is on a hill and is a rock site, accelerations of approximately 1.78 g horizontally and 1.2 g vertically at the Tarzana site are among the highest ever instrumentally recorded for an earthquake. To investigate possible site effects at the Tarzana site, we used explosive-source seismic refraction data to determine the shallow (<70 m) P-and S-wave velocity structure. Our seismic velocity models for the Tarzana site indicate that the local velocity structure may have contributed significantly to the observed shaking. P-wave velocities range from 0.9 to 1.65 km/sec, and S-wave velocities range from 0.20 and 0.6 km/sec for the upper 70 m. We also found evidence for a local S-wave low-velocity zone (LVZ) beneath the top of the hill. The LVZ underlies a CDMG strong-motion recording site at depths between 25 and 60 m below ground surface (BGS). Our velocity model is consistent with the near-surface (<30 m) P- and S-wave velocities and Poisson's ratios measured in a nearby (<30 m) borehole. High Poisson's ratios (0.477 to 0.494) and S-wave attenuation within the LVZ suggest that the LVZ may be composed of highly saturated shales of the Modelo Formation. Because the lateral dimensions of the LVZ approximately correspond to the areas of strongest shaking, we suggest that the highly saturated zone may have contributed to localized strong shaking. Rock sites are generally considered to be ideal locations for site response in urban areas; however, localized, highly saturated rock sites may be a hazard in urban areas that requires further investigation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1819-1831
Author(s):  
Xu Wang ◽  
Ling Chen ◽  
Yuan Ling ◽  
Yifan Gao ◽  
Jianyong Zhang ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Febi Niswatul Auliyah ◽  
Komang Ngurah Suarbawa ◽  
Indira Indira

P-wave velocity and S-wave velocity have been investigated in the Bali Province by using earthquake case studies on March 22, 2017. The study was focused on finding out whether there were anomalies in the values of vp/vs before and after the earthquake. Earthquake data was obtained from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Region III Denpasar, which consisted of the main earthquake on March 22, 2017 and earthquake data in August 2016 to May 2017. Data was processed using the wadati diagram method, obtained that the vp/vs on SRBI, IGBI, DNP and RTBI stations are shifted from 1.5062 to 1.8261. Before the earthquake occurred the anomaly of the value of vp/vs was found on the four stations, at the SRBI station at 10.35%, at the IGBI station at 16.16%, at DNP station at 12.27% and at RTBI station at 4.62%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 283 ◽  
pp. 06003
Author(s):  
Guangxue Zheng ◽  
Hanhao Zhu ◽  
Jun Zhu

A method of geo-acoustic parameter inversion based on the Bayesian theory is proposed for the acquisition of acoustic parameters in shallow sea with the elastic seabed. Firstly, the theoretical prediction value of the sound pressure field is calculated by the fast field method (FFM). According to the Bayesian theory, we establish the misfit function between the measured sound pressure field and the theoretical pressure field. It is under the assumption of Gaussian data errors which are in line with the likelihood function. Finally, the posterior probability density (PPD) of parameters is given as the result of inversion. Our research is conducted in the light of Metropolis sample rules. Apart from numerical simulations, a scaled model experiment has been taken in the laboratory tank. The results of numerical simulations and tank experiments show that sound pressure field calculated by the result of inversion is consistent with the measured sound pressure field. Besides, s-wave velocities, p-wave velocities and seafloor density have fewer uncertainties and are more sensitive to complex sound pressure than s-wave attenuation and p-wave attenuation. The received signals calculated by inversion results are keeping with received signals in the experiment which verify the effectiveness of this method.


2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 627
Author(s):  
R.G. Williams ◽  
G. Roberts ◽  
K. Hawkins

Seismic energy that has been mode converted from pwave to s-wave in the sub-surface may be recorded by multi-component surveys to obtain information about the elastic properties of the earth. Since the energy converted to s-wave is missing from the p-wave an alternative to recording OBC multi-component data is to examine p-wave data for the missing energy. Since pwave velocities are generally faster than s-wave velocities, then for a given reflection point the converted s-wave signal reaches the surface at a shorter offset than the equivalent p-wave information. Thus, it is necessary to record longer offsets for p-wave data than for multicomponent data in order to measure the same information.A non-linear, wide-angle (including post critical) AVO inversion has been developed that allows relative changes in p-wave velocities, s-wave velocities and density to be extracted from long offset p-wave data. To extract amplitudes at long offsets for this inversion it is necessary to image the data correctly, including correcting for higher order moveout and possibly anisotropy if it is present.The higher order moveout may itself be inverted to yield additional information about the anisotropy of the sub-surface.


2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Badee Alshameri ◽  
Ismail Bakar ◽  
Aziman Madun ◽  
Edy Tonnizam Mohamad

One of the main geophysical tools (seismic tools) in the laboratory is the bender element. This tool can be used to measure some dynamic soil properties (e.g. shear and Young’s modulus). However, even if it relatively simple to use the bender element, inconsistent testing procedures can cause poor quality in the bender element data. One of the bender element procedure that always neglected is the alignment (different positions of bender element receiver to the transmitter in the vertical axis). The alignment effect was evaluated via changing the horizontal distance between transmitter and receiver starting from 0 to 110 mm for two sizes of the sample's thickness (i.e. 63.17 mm and 91.51 mm). Five methods were applied to calculate the travel times. Those methods were as the following: visually, first-peak, maximum-peak, CCexcel and CCGDS. In general, the experiments indicated uncertain results for both of the P-wave (primary wave) and S-wave (secondary wave) velocities at zone of Dr:D above 0.5:1 (where Dr is the horizontal distance of the receiver from the vertical axis and D is the thickness of the sample). On the other hand, both the visual and first-peak methods show the wave velocities results are higher than obtained from other methods. However, the ratio between the amplitude of transmitter signals to receiver amplitude signal was taken to calculate the damping-slope of the P-wave and S-wave. Thus the results from damping slope show steeply slope when the ratio of  Dr:D is above 0.5:1 compare with gentle slope below ratio 0.5:1 at the sample with thickness equal to 91.51 mm, while there is no variation at a slope in sample with thickness equal to 63.17 mm.


Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. MR297-MR308
Author(s):  
Roberta Ruggieri ◽  
Fabio Trippetta

Variations in reservoir seismic properties can be correlated to changes in saturated-fluid properties. Thus, the determination of variation in petrophysical properties of carbonate-bearing rocks is of interest to the oil exploration industry because unconventional oils, such as bitumen (HHC), are emerging as an alternative hydrocarbon reserve. We have investigated the temperature effects on laboratory seismic wave velocities of HHC-bearing carbonate rocks belonging to the Bolognano Formation (Majella Mountain, central Italy), which can be defined as a natural laboratory to study carbonate reservoir properties. We conduct an initial characterization in terms of porosity and density for the carbonate-bearing samples and then density and viscosity measurements for the residual HHC, extracted by HCl dissolution of the hosting rock. Acoustic wave velocities are recorded from ambient temperature to 90°C. Our acoustic velocity data point out an inverse relationship with temperature, and compressional (P) and shear (S) wave velocities show a distinct trend with increasing temperature depending on the amount of HHC content. Indeed, samples with the highest HHC content show a larger gradient of velocity changes in the temperature range of approximately 50°C–60°C, suggesting that the bitumen can be in a fluid state. Conversely, below approximately 50°C, the velocity gradient is lower because, at this temperature, bitumen can change its phase in a solid state. We also propose a theoretical model to predict the P-wave velocity change at different initial porosities for HHC-saturated samples suggesting that the velocity change mainly is related to the absolute volume of HHC.


Geophysics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 1512-1529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopa S. De ◽  
Donald F. Winterstein ◽  
Mark A. Meadows

We compared P‐ and S‐wave velocities and quality factors (Q’S) from vertical seismic profiling (VSP) and sonic log measurements in five wells, three from the southwest San Joaquin Basin of California, one from near Laredo, Texas, and one from northern Alberta. Our purpose was to investigate the bias between sonic log and VSP velocities and to examine to what degree this bias might be a consequence of dispersion. VSPs and sonic logs were recorded in the same well in every case. Subsurface formations were predominantly clastic. The bias found was that VSP transit times were greater than sonic log times, consistent with normal dispersion. For the San Joaquin wells, differences in S‐wave transit times averaged 1–2 percent, while differences in P‐wave transit times averaged 6–7 percent. For the Alberta well, the situation was reversed, with differences in S‐wave transit times being about 6 percent, while those for P‐waves were 2.5 percent. For the Texas well, the differences averaged about 4 percent for both P‐ and S‐waves. Drift‐curve slopes for S‐waves tended to be low where the P‐wave slopes were high and vice versa. S‐wave drift‐curve slopes in the shallow California wells were 5–10 μs/ft (16–33 μs/m) and the P‐wave slopes were 15–30 μs/ft (49–98 μs/m). The S‐wave slope in sandstones in the northern Alberta well was up to 50 μs/ft (164 μs/m), while the P‐wave slope was about 5 μs/ft (16 μs/m). In the northern Alberta well the slopes for both P‐ and S‐waves flattened in the carbonate. In the Texas well, both P‐ and S‐wave drifts were comparable. We calculated (Q’s) from a velocity dispersion formula and from spectral ratios. When the two Q’s agreed, we concluded that velocity dispersion resulted solely from absorption. These Q estimation methods were reliable only for Q values smaller than 20. We found that, even with data of generally outstanding quality, Q values determined by standard methods can have large uncertainties, and negative Q’s may be common.


Geophysics ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Winterstein ◽  
B. N. P. Paulsson

Crosshole and vertical seismic profile (VST) data made possible accurate characterization of the elastic properties, including noticeable velocity anisotropy, of a near‐surface late Tertiary shale formation. Shear‐wave splitting was obvious in both crosshole and VSP data. In crosshole data, two orthologonally polarrized shear (S) waves arrived 19 ms in the uppermost 246 ft (75 m). Vertically traveling S waves of the VSP separated about 10 ms in the uppermost 300 ft (90 m) but remained at nearly constant separation below that level. A transversely isotropic model, which incorporates a rapid increase in S-wave velocities with depth but slow increase in P-wave velocities, closely fits the data over most of the measured interval. Elastic constants of the transvesely isotropic model show spherical P- and [Formula: see text]wave velocity surfaces but an ellipsoidal [Formula: see text]wave surface with a ratio of major to minor axes of 1.15. The magnitude of this S-wave anisotropy is consistent with and lends credence to S-wave anisotropy magnitudes deduced less directly from data of many sedimentary basins.


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