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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rock mechanics and rock engineering 2019-09, Vol.52 (9), p.3293-3304
Main Authors: Ding, Pinbo, Wang, Ding, Di, Guidong, Li, Xiangyang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civil Engineering
Crack propagation
Earth
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth crust
Earth Sciences
Feasibility studies
Fractures
Geophysics/Geodesy
Hydraulic fracturing
Modelling
Orientation
Original Paper
S waves
Saturation
Shear
Splitting
Stimulation
Wave propagation
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0723-2632
1434-453X
DOI:10.1007/s00603-019-01770-3