Seismic inversion for geologic fractures and fractured media

Geophysics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. C145-C161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqin Cui ◽  
Edward S. Krebes ◽  
Laurence R. Lines
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Avo Inversion ◽  
Impedance Contrast ◽  
Fractured Medium ◽  
Pp Wave ◽  
Contact Part

Amplitude variation with offset (AVO) inversion attempts to use the available surface seismic data to estimate the density, P-wave velocity, and S-wave velocity of the earth model. Under linear slip interface theory, synthetic seismograms for models with fractures prove that fractures are also reflection generators. Consequently, observed reflections are not necessarily due to lithologic variations only, but they could be due in part to the effect of fractures. To obtain approximate equations for AVO inversion for fractured media, denoted by AVO with fracture (AVOF), we derived new equations for PP-wave reflection and transmission coefficients that are based on nonwelded contact boundary conditions. In particular, along with the fracture compliances, azimuth has also been taken into account in the equations because the fractures can have any orientation. The new approximate AVOF equations for a horizontally fractured medium with impedance contrast are developed by simplifying the equations for the new PP-wave reflection and transmission coefficients. In the new approximate AVOF equations, the reflection coefficients are divided into a welded contact part (a conventional impedance contrast part) and a nonwelded contact part (a fracture part). This makes the equations flexible enough to separately invert for the rock properties of the fracture and the background medium in the case of a fractured medium with impedance contrast. The new approximate AVOF equations state that fractures could cause the seismic reflectivity to be frequency dependent, and that the fractures not only influence the wave amplitude but also change the wave phase. The linear least-squares and nonlinear conjugate gradient inversion algorithms are applied to estimate the elastic reflectivity using the new approximate AVOF equations. The inverted results for seismic data for a horizontally fractured medium with impedance contrast are evaluated to find a more accurate delineation of the subsurface rock properties.

scholarly journals Reflection and transmission coefficients of a thin bed

Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. N31-N39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Yang ◽  
Yun Wang ◽  
Yanghua Wang
Keyword(s):  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Seismic Analysis ◽  
Middle Layer ◽  
Reflection And Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Reservoir Modeling ◽  
Reflection Coefficients ◽  
Approximation Accuracy ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Pp Wave

The study of thin-bed seismic response is an important part in lithologic and methane reservoir modeling, critical for predicting their physical attributes and/or elastic parameters. The complex propagator matrix for the exact reflections and transmissions of thin beds limits their application in thin-bed inversion. Therefore, approximation formulas with a high accuracy and a relatively simple form are needed for thin-bed seismic analysis and inversion. We have derived thin-bed reflection and transmission coefficients, defined in terms of displacements, and approximated them to be in a quasi-Zoeppritz matrix form under the assumption that the middle layer has a very thin thickness. We have verified the approximation accuracy through numerical calculation and concluded that the errors in PP-wave reflection coefficients [Formula: see text] are generally smaller than 10% when the thin-bed thicknesses are smaller than one-eighth of the PP-wavelength. The PS-wave reflection coefficients [Formula: see text] have lower approximation accuracy than [Formula: see text] for the same ratios of thicknesses to their respective wavelengths, and the [Formula: see text] approximation is not acceptable for incident angles approaching the critical angles (when they exist) except in the case of extremely strong impedance difference. Errors in phase for the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] approximation are less than 10% for the cases of thicknesses less than one-tenth of the wavelengths. As expected, a thinner middle layer and a weaker impedance difference would result in higher approximation accuracy.

Wave Propagation Analysis of an Axially Strained, Rotating Timoshenko Shaft: Part II

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bongsu Kang ◽  
Chin An Tan
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Axial Strain ◽  
Free Vibration Analysis ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Propagation Analysis ◽  
Geometric Discontinuities ◽  
Bernoulli Models ◽  
Incident Waves

Abstract In this paper, the wave reflection and transmission characteristics of an axially strained, rotating Timoshenko shaft under general support and boundary conditions, and with geometric discontinuities are examined. As a continuation to Part I of this paper (Kang and Tan, 1997), the wave reflection and transmission at point supports with finite translational and rotational constraints are further discussed. The reflection and transmission matrices for incident waves upon general supports and geometric discontinuities are derived. These matrices are combined, with the aid of the transfer matrix method, to provide a concise and systematic approach for the free vibration analysis of multi-span rotating shafts with general boundary conditions. Results on the wave reflection and transmission coefficients are presented for both the Timoshenko and the Euler-Bernoulli models to investigate the effects of the axial strain, shaft rotation speed, shear and rotary inertia.

THE REFLECTION, REFRACTION, AND DIFFRACTION OF WAVES IN MEDIA WITH AN ELLIPTICAL VELOCITY DEPENDENCE

Geophysics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklyn K. Levin
Keyword(s):  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Velocity Dependence ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Surface Data ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Time Distance

Assuming media having a velocity dependence on angle which is an ellipse, we have confirmed previously reported time‐distance relations for reflections from single interfaces, for reflections from sections of beds separated by horizontal interfaces, for refraction arrivals, and added the expression for diffractions. We also have derived expressions for plane‐wave reflection and transmission coefficients at an interface separating two transversely isotropic media. None of the properties differs greatly from those for isotropic media. However, velocities found from seismic surface reflections or refractions are horizontal components. There seems to be no way of obtaining vertical components of velocity from surface measurements alone and hence no way to compute depths from surface data.

scholarly journals Reflection and Transmission of Acoustic Waves through the Layer of Multifractional Bubbly Liquid

2018 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 15001
Author(s):  
Damir Anvarovich Gubaidullin ◽  
Ramil Nakipovich Gafiyatov
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Bubbly Liquid ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Transmission Coefficients ◽  
Multilayer Medium ◽  
Bubble Layer ◽  
The Mathematical Model ◽  
Theoretical Results

The mathematical model that determines reflection and transmission of acoustic wave through a medium containing multifractioanl bubbly liquid is presented. For the water-water with bubbles-water model the wave reflection and transmission coefficients are calculated. The influence of the bubble layer thickness on the investigated coefficients is shown. The theory compared with the experiment. It is shown that the theoretical results describe and explain well the available experimental data. It is revealed that the special dispersion and dissipative properties of the layer of bubbly liquid can significantly influence on the reflection and transmission of acoustic waves in multilayer medium

Two-step joint PP- and PS-wave three-term amplitude-variation with offset inversion

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. T613-T625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qizhen Du ◽  
Bo Zhang ◽  
Xianjun Meng ◽  
Chengfeng Guo ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reflection Coefficient ◽  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Coefficient Matrix ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Inversion Method ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Amplitude Variation ◽  
Amplitude Variation With Offset ◽  
Avo Inversion ◽  
Pp Wave

Three-term amplitude-variation with offset (AVO) inversion generally suffers from instability when there is limited prior geologic or petrophysical constraints. Two-term AVO inversion shows higher instability compared with three-term AVO inversion. However, density, which is important in the fluid-type estimation, cannot be recovered from two-term AVO inversion. To reliably predict the P- and S-waves and density, we have developed a robust two-step joint PP- and PS-wave three-term AVO-inversion method. Our inversion workflow consists of two steps. The first step is to estimate the P- and S-wave reflectivities using Stewart’s joint two-term PP- and PS-AVO inversion. The second step is to treat the P-wave reflectivity obtained from the first step as the prior constraint to remove the P-wave velocity related-term from the three-term Aki-Richards PP-wave approximated reflection coefficient equation, and then the reduced PP-wave reflection coefficient equation is combined with the PS-wave reflection coefficient equation to estimate the S-wave and density reflectivities. We determined the effectiveness of our method by first applying it to synthetic models and then to field data. We also analyzed the condition number of the coefficient matrix to illustrate the stability of the proposed method. The estimated results using proposed method are superior to those obtained from three-term AVO inversion.

QVOA analysis: P-wave attenuation anisotropy for fracture characterization

Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. C37-C48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Chichinina ◽  
Vladimir Sabinin ◽  
Gerardo Ronquillo-Jarillo
Keyword(s):  
Wave Reflection ◽  
Wave Attenuation ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Anisotropy Parameter ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Fracture Parameters ◽  
Fractured Medium ◽  
Seismic Quality Factor ◽  
Pp Wave ◽  
Attenuation Anisotropy

This paper investigates [Formula: see text]-anisotropy for characterizing fractured reservoirs — specifically, the variation of the seismic quality factor [Formula: see text] versus offset and azimuth (QVOA). We derive an analytical expression for P-wave attenuation in a transversely isotropic medium with horizontal symmetry axis (HTI) and provide a method (QVOA) for estimating fracture direction from azimuthally varying [Formula: see text] in PP-wave reflection data. The QVOA formula is similar to Rüger’s approximation for PP-wave reflection coefficients, the theoretical basis for amplitude variation with angle offset (AVOA) analysis. The technique for QVOA analysis is similar to azimuthal AVO analysis. We introduce two new seismic attributes: [Formula: see text] versus offset (QVO) gradient and intercept. QVO gradient inversion not only indicates fracture orientation but also characterizes [Formula: see text]-anisotropy. We relate the [Formula: see text]-anisotropy parameter [Formula: see text] to fractured-medium parameters and invert the QVO gradient to estimate [Formula: see text]. The attenuation parameter [Formula: see text] and Thomsen-style anisotropy parameter [Formula: see text] are found to be interdependent. The attenuation anisotropy magnitude strongly depends on the host rock’s [Formula: see text] parameter, whereas the dependence on fracture parameters is weak. This complicates the QVO gradient inversion for the fracture parameters. This result is independent of the attenuation mechanism. To illustrate the QVOA method in synthetic data, we use Hudson’s first-order effective-medium model of a dissipative fractured reservoir with fluid flow between aligned cracks and random pores as a possible mechanism for P-wave attenuation.

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