Relating the hydraulic properties of a fractured rock mass to seismic attributes: Theory and numerical experiments

Numerical experiments are conducted to establish how the properties of a seismic signal are related to the hydraulic properties of a fractured rock mass. A hybridized reflectivity method is developed and used to compute a 1D synthetic seismogram for a geologic section which consists of a series of layers with one of the layers consisting of fractures. Seismic attributes, notably instantaneous amplitude, frequency and bandwidth are computed for a reflected seismic energy from a fractured zone with known distribution of fracture parameters: fracture length, aperture and spacing. The permeability of the fractured zone is computed using a discrete fracture model. The synthetic seismogram is computed using the Modified Displacement Discontinuity Model (MDD), which accounts for fracture opening and finite lengths of fractures. A significant correlation is established between the seismic attributes and fractured rock mass permeability. All the seismic attributes tend to increase with increase in permeability. The correlation is significant enough to establish a meaningful empirical relation between seismic attributes and fracture permeability. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Duke Scholars

Author Fred K. Boadu Civil and Environmental Engineering