Numerical modeling of PP- and PS-wave azimuthal anisotropy in HTI media.

Qian, Zhong-Ping; Zhang, Shao-Hua; Zhao, Bo; Lei, Na; Li, Xiang-Yang

This study focuses on the factors that may affect the feasibility of performing elliptical anisotropy analysis on azimuthal PP- and PS-wave data in HTI media, with the aim of using the modeling results as guidance in real seismic data application. Our results reveal that there is an offset limitation for both PP- and PS-waves in elliptical anisotropy fitting, and that PS-waves show a wider applicable offset range and larger observable azimuthal anisotropy than PP-waves. The major axis of the elliptical fit to the amplitudes of the R-component is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is opposite to that in PP-wave analysis. The azimuthal interval travel time of PS-waves shows a nearly elliptical distribution and the major axis of the fit ellipse is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is same as that in PP-wave analysis. For data within the applicable offset range, the anisotropic magnitude obtained from amplitude and travel time attributes of PP- and PS-waves exhibits a dependence on fracture density, and the major to minor axis ratio of the fit ellipse may be used to infer the relative distribution of fracture densities.

SHEAR waves; ANISOTROPY; FEASIBILITY studies; MATHEMATICAL models; FRACTURE mechanics; DISTRIBUTION (Probability theory); DATA analysis

Applied Geophysics: Bulletin of Chinese Geophysical Society, 2012, Vol 9, Issue 4, p429

1672-7975

Academic Journal

10.1007/s11770-012-0355-z