Generalized velocity approximation

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. C27-C40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Stovas ◽  
Sergey Fomel

We have developed a new approximation for P-wave velocity that has the same functional form for phase and group velocities. We call it the generalized velocity approximation (GVA) because it is similar to the generalized moveout approximation. The 2D GVA has five parameters, and the 3D GVA has 12 parameters. Our approximation is exact for the phase velocity in a transversely isotropic medium. The parameters of the 3D version of the proposed approximation are defined in all of the symmetry planes in the same fashion. Numerical examples indicate that our approximation has the same accuracy as recently proposed anelliptic approximation, but it has fewer parameters.

Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. C79-C97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Hao ◽  
Alexey Stovas

We have developed an approximate method to calculate the P-wave phase and group velocities for orthorhombic media. Two forms of analytic approximations for P-wave velocities in orthorhombic media were built by analogy with the five-parameter moveout approximation and the four-parameter velocity approximation for transversely isotropic media, respectively. They are called the generalized moveout approximation (GMA)-type approximation and the Fomel approximation, respectively. We have developed approximations for elastic and acoustic orthorhombic media. We have characterized the elastic orthorhombic media in Voigt notation, and we can describe the acoustic orthorhombic media by introducing the modified Alkhalifah’s notation. Our numerical evaluations indicate that the GMA-type and Fomel approximations are accurate for elastic and acoustic orthorhombic media with strong anisotropy, and the GMA-type approximation is comparable with the approximation recently proposed by Sripanich and Fomel. Potential applications of the proposed approximations include forward modeling and migration based on the dispersion relation and the forward traveltime calculation for seismic tomography.


Geophysics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1162-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph B. Molyneux ◽  
Douglas R. Schmitt

Elastic‐wave velocities are often determined by picking the time of a certain feature of a propagating pulse, such as the first amplitude maximum. However, attenuation and dispersion conspire to change the shape of a propagating wave, making determination of a physically meaningful velocity problematic. As a consequence, the velocities so determined are not necessarily representative of the material’s intrinsic wave phase and group velocities. These phase and group velocities are found experimentally in a highly attenuating medium consisting of glycerol‐saturated, unconsolidated, random packs of glass beads and quartz sand. Our results show that the quality factor Q varies between 2 and 6 over the useful frequency band in these experiments from ∼200 to 600 kHz. The fundamental velocities are compared to more common and simple velocity estimates. In general, the simpler methods estimate the group velocity at the predominant frequency with a 3% discrepancy but are in poor agreement with the corresponding phase velocity. Wave velocities determined from the time at which the pulse is first detected (signal velocity) differ from the predominant group velocity by up to 12%. At best, the onset wave velocity arguably provides a lower bound for the high‐frequency limit of the phase velocity in a material where wave velocity increases with frequency. Each method of time picking, however, is self‐consistent, as indicated by the high quality of linear regressions of observed arrival times versus propagation distance.


Geophysics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1245-1246

Okoye et al. develop a least-squares iterative inversion technique determining of the elastic parameters δ* and vertical P-wave velocity (α0) of any transversely isotropic modeling material in the laboratory. The anisotropic inverse modeling technique finds the best fitting solution and implements analytical rather than numerical differentiations to optimize the accuracy of the results.


Geophysics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1305-1315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Zhou ◽  
George A. McMechan

An analytical formula for geometrical spreading is derived for a horizontally layered transversely isotropic medium with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI). With this expression, geometrical spreading can be determined using only the anisotropy parameters in the first layer, the traveltime derivatives, and the source‐receiver offset. Explicit, numerically feasible expressions for geometrical spreading are obtained for special cases of transverse isotropy (weak anisotropy and elliptic anisotropy). Geometrical spreading can be calculated for transversly isotropic (TI) media by using picked traveltimes of primary nonhyperbolic P-wave reflections without having to know the actual parameters in the deeper subsurface; no ray tracing is needed. Synthetic examples verify the algorithm and show that it is numerically feasible for calculation of geometrical spreading. For media with a few (4–5) layers, relative errors in the computed geometrical spreading remain less than 0.5% for offset/depth ratios less than 1.0. Errors that change with offset are attributed to inaccuracy in the expression used for nonhyberbolic moveout. Geometrical spreading is most sensitive to errors in NMO velocity, followed by errors in zero‐offset reflection time, followed by errors in anisotropy of the surface layer. New relations between group and phase velocities and between group and phase angles are shown in appendices.


Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-74
Author(s):  
Bowen Li ◽  
Alexey Stovas

Characterizing the kinematics of seismic waves in elastic orthorhombic media involves nine independent parameters. All wave modes, P-, S1-, and S2-waves, are intrinsically coupled. Since the P-wave propagation in orthorhombic media is weakly dependent on the three S-wave velocity parameters, they are set to zero under the acoustic assumption. The number of parameters required for the corresponding acoustic wave equation is thus reduced from nine to six, which is very practical for the inversion algorithm. However, the acoustic wavefields generated by the finite-difference scheme suffer from two types of S-wave artifacts, which may result in noticeable numerical dispersion and even instability issues. Avoiding such artifacts requires a class of spectral methods based on the low-rank decomposition. To implement a six-parameter pure P-wave approximation in orthorhombic media, we develop a novel phase velocity approximation approach from the perspective of decoupling P- and S-waves. In the exact P-wave phase velocity expression, we find that the two algebraic expressions related to the S1- and S2-wave phase velocities play a negligible role. After replacing these two algebraic expressions with the designed constant and variable respectively, the exact P-wave phase velocity expression is greatly simplified and naturally decoupled from the characteristic equation. Similarly, the number of required parameters is reduced from nine to six. We also derive an approximate S-wave phase velocity equation, which supports the coupled S1- and S2-waves and involves nine independent parameters. Error analyses based on several orthorhombic models confirm the reasonable and stable accuracy performance of the proposed phase velocity approximation. We further derive the approximate dispersion relations for the P-wave and the S-wave system in orthorhombic media. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the corresponding P- and S-wavefields are free of artifacts and exhibit good accuracy and stability.


Geophysics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wright

Studies have shown that elastic properties of materials such as shale and chalk are anisotropic. With the increasing emphasis on extraction of lithology and fluid content from changes in reflection amplitude with shot‐to‐group offset, one needs to know the effects of anisotropy on reflectivity. Since anisotropy means that velocity depends upon the direction of propagation, this angular dependence of velocity is expected to influence reflectivity changes with offset. These effects might be particularly evident in deltaic sand‐shale sequences since measurements have shown that the P-wave velocity of shales in the horizontal direction can be 20 percent higher than the vertical P-wave velocity. To investigate this behavior, a computer program was written to find the P- and S-wave reflectivities at an interface between two transversely isotropic media with the axis of symmetry perpendicular to the interface. Models for shale‐chalk and shale‐sand P-wave reflectivities were analyzed.


Geophysics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. C49-C59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da Shuai ◽  
Jianxin Wei ◽  
Bangrang Di ◽  
Sanyi Yuan ◽  
Jianyong Xie ◽  
...  

We have designed transversely isotropic models containing penny-shaped rubber inclusions, with the crack diameters ranging from 2.5 to 6.2 mm to study the influence of fracture size on seismic velocity under controlled conditions. Three pairs of transducers with different frequencies (0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 MHz) are used for P- and S-wave ultrasonic sounding, respectively. The P-wave measurements indicate that the scattering effect is dominant when the waves propagate perpendicular to the fractures. Our experimental results demonstrate that when the wavelength-to-crack-diameter ratio ([Formula: see text]) is larger than 14, the P-wave velocity can be described predominantly by the effective medium theory. Although the ratio is larger than four, the S-wave velocity is close to the equivalent medium results. When [Formula: see text] < 14 or [Formula: see text] is < 4, the elastic velocity is dominated by scattering. The magnitudes of the Thomsen anisotropic parameters [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are scale and frequency dependent on the assumption that the transversely isotropic models are vertical transversely isotropic medium. Furthermore, we compare the experimental velocities with the Hudson theory. The results illustrate that there is a good agreement between the observed P-wave velocity and the Hudson theory when [Formula: see text] > 7 in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the fractures. For small fracture diameters, however, the P-wave velocity perpendicular to the fractures predicted from the Hudson theory is not accurate. When [Formula: see text] < 4, there is good agreement between the experimental fast S-wave velocity and the Hudson theory, whereas the experimental slow S-wave velocity diverges with the Hudson theory. When [Formula: see text] > 4, the deviation of fast and slow S-wave velocities with the Hudson prediction is stable.


2019 ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
V I Erofeev ◽  
D A Kolesov ◽  
V L Krupenin

We study the features of propagation of a longitudinal wave in an acoustic (mechanical) metamaterial, modeled as a one-dimensional chain, containing equal masses, connected by elastic elements (springs), and having the same rigidity. Each mass contains within itself a series connection of another mass and viscous element (damper). The mass-to-mass model is free from the drawbacks of a number of other mechanical models of metamaterials: i.e. it eliminates the need to have the property of a deformable body to possess a negative mass, density, and (or) a negative elastic modulus. It is shown that the model under consideration makes it possible to describe the dispersion and frequency-dependent attenuation of a longitudinal wave, the character of which essentially depends on the ratio of the external and internal mass of the metamaterial. The behavior of the phase and group velocities of the wave is studied, as well as the evolution of its profile, both in the low-frequency and high-frequency ranges. The mass ratios were found at which the phase velocity exceeds the group velocity (normal dispersion) in magnitude and those at which the group velocity exceeds the phase velocity (anomalous dispersion) in a wide frequency range. Having the same asymptotic values when the frequency tends to infinity, the phase and group velocities have significant differences in behavior, namely, that the phase velocity is a monotonic function of frequency, and the group velocity has a maximum. In addition, in the region of normal dispersion, the group velocity may be negative, i.e. the so-called “reverse wave” effect is true, when, despite the fact that the phase velocity is directed in the positive direction of the spatial axis, the energy in such a wave is transferred in the negative direction.


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