Synthetic modeling study of the effect of attenuation anisotropy in fractured media

A. M. Ekanem*, X. Y. Li, M. Chapman, I. G. Main

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

We present the results of a synthetic modelling study of the effect of attenuation anisotropy in fractured media. Our theoretical model is made up of one anisotropic and three isotropic horizontal layers. The anisotropic layer consists of a porous fluid-saturated material with aligned vertical fractures, and squirt flow between the pores in the matrix is taken into consideration. We used the spectral ratio method to compute the seismic quality factor, Q, from the synthetic data in four azimuthal directions relative to the fracture strike. The results of our measurement indicate that attenuation increases with incidence angle and azimuth away from the fracture strike. Azimuthal variations in the induced attenuation are elliptical and the fracture orientations obtained from the axes of the ellipse are consistent with the theoretical model. We conclude that these effects, if observed in field data, could be used to determine fracture orientations in the subsurface to supplement the use of other seismic attributes.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSociety of Petroleum Engineers - 73rd European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers Conference and Exhibition 2011 - Incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2011
PublisherSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
Pages5300-5304
Number of pages5
Volume7
ISBN (Print)9781617829666
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2011

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