Statistical analysis of irregular wave-guide influences on regional seismic discriminants in China

1998 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangwei Fan ◽  
Thorne Lay
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Western China ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Large Scatter ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Propagation Effects ◽  
Regional Phases

Abstract Short-period regional phases play an important role in identifying low-magnitude seismic events in the context of monitoring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Amplitude ratios of regional phases comprised mainly of P-wave energy (Pn, Pg) to those comprised mainly of S-wave energy (Sn, Lg) effectively discriminate between explosions and earthquakes in many regions, particularly at frequencies higher than 3 Hz. At lower frequencies, discrimination is usually poor due to large scatter that causes overlapping of event populations. Scatter in regional discriminant measures such as Pg/Lg ratios is caused by both source and propagation effects, and reducing the scatter imparted by the latter is essential to improving the discriminant performance when events do not share identical paths. Regional phases experience distance-dependent amplitude variations due to effects such as critical angle amplification, geometric spreading, and attenuation. Discriminant measures are usually corrected for empirically determined distance trends for a given region, but large scatter persists after such corrections. This study seeks to develop more sophisticated empirical corrections for path properties in order to further reduce the scatter in regional discriminant measures caused by propagation effects. Broadband seismic waveforms recorded at station WMQ, in western China, demonstrate that regional Pg/Lg ratios show significant distance dependence for frequencies less than 6 Hz. However, variations in crustal structure cause additional path-specific amplitude fluctuations that are not accounted for by regionally averaged distance corrections. Blockage of Lg phases on paths traversing the margins of the Tibetan Plateau is one such effect. Regression analysis demonstrates that Pg/Lg ratios measured at WMQ display significant correlations with path-specific properties such as mean elevation, topographic roughness, basement depth, and crustal thickness. Multiple regressions using optimal combinations of parameters yield corrections that reduce variance in Pg/Lg measurements for frequencies less than 3 Hz by a factor of 2 or more relative to standard distance corrections. This should systematically enhance the performance of the Pg/Lg discriminant at low frequencies. The method presented here can be used for all regions and all short-period regional discriminants. It is likely that the extraordinary crustal heterogeneity in western China represents an extreme case of path-dependent effects.

PROPELLER NOISE FROM A LIGHT AIRCRAFT FOR LOW-FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS OF THE SPEED OF SOUND IN A MARINE SEDIMENT

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 445-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. BUCKINGHAM ◽  
ERIC M. GIDDENS ◽  
FERNANDO SIMONET ◽  
THOMAS R. HAHN
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Speed Of Sound ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Fine Sand ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Difference Frequency ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
La Jolla

The sound from a light aircraft in flight is generated primarily by the propeller, which produces a sequence of harmonics in the frequency band between about 80 Hz and 1 kHz. Such an airborne sound source has potential in underwater acoustics applications, including inversion procedures for determining the wave properties of marine sediments. A series of experiments has recently been performed off the coast of La Jolla, California, in which a light aircraft was flown over a sensor station located in a shallow (approximately 15 m deep) ocean channel. The sound from the aircraft was monitored with a microphone above the sea surface, a vertical array of eight hydrophones in the water column, and two sensors, a hydrophone and a bender intended for detecting shear waves, buried 75 cm deep in the very-fine-sand sediment. The propeller harmonics were detected on all the sensors, although the s-wave was masked by the p-wave on the buried bender. Significant Doppler shifts of the order of 17%, were observed on the microphone as the aircraft approached and departed from the sensor station. Doppler shifting was also evident in the hydrophone data from the water column and the sediment, but to a lesser extent than in the atmosphere. The magnitude of the Doppler shift depends on the local speed of sound in the medium in which the sensor is located. A technique is described in which the Doppler difference frequency between aircraft approach and departure is used to determine the speed of sound at low-frequencies (80 Hz to 1 kHz) in each of the three environments, the atmosphere, the ocean and the sediment. Several experimental results are presented, including the speed of sound in the very fine sand sediment at a nominal frequency of 600 Hz, which was found from the Doppler difference frequency of the seventh propeller harmonic to be 1617 m/s.

Wavefield simulation and data-acquisition-scheme analysis for LWD acoustic tools in very slow formations

Geophysics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. E59-E68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Wang ◽  
Guo Tao
Keyword(s):  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Cutoff Frequency ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Flexural Wave ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Wave Velocities ◽  
Dipole System ◽  
P Wave Velocity ◽  
Wavefield Simulation

Propagating wavefields from monopole, dipole, and quadrupole acoustic logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools in very slow formations have been studied using the discrete wavenumber integration method. These studies examine the responses of monopole and dipole systems at different source frequencies in a very slow surrounding formation, and the responses of a quadrupole system operating at a low source frequency in a slow formation with different S-wave velocities. Analyses are conducted of coherence-velocity/slowness relationships (semblance spectra) in the time domain and of the dispersion characteristics of these waveform signals from acoustic LWD array receivers. These analyses demonstrate that, if the acoustic LWD tool is centralized properly and is operating at low frequencies (below 3 kHz), a monopole system can measure P-wave velocity by means of a “leaky” P-wave for very slow formations. Also, for very slow formations a dipole system can measure the P-wave velocity via a leaky P-wave and can measure the S-wave velocity from a formation flexural wave. With a quadrupole system, however, the lower frequency limit (cutoff frequency) of the drill-collar interference wave would decrease to 5 kHz and might no longer be neglected if the surrounding formation becomes a very slow formation, with S-wave velocities at approximately 500 m/s.

Mode Conversion Technique Employed in Shear Wave Velocity Studies of Rock Samples Under Axial and Uniform Compression

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (02) ◽  
pp. 136-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.R. Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Shear Wave ◽  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Shear Wave Velocity ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Pressure Range ◽  
Mode Conversion ◽  
P Wave ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Rock Samples ◽  
Mode Converters

Abstract A shear wave velocity laboratory apparatus and techniques for testing rock samples under simulated subsurface conditions have been developed. In the apparatus, two electromechanical transducers operating in the frequency range 0.5 to 5.0 megahertz (MHz: megacycles per second) are mounted in contact with each end of the sample. Liquid-solid interfaces of Drakeol-aluminum are used as mode converters. In the generator transducer, there is total mode conversion from P-wave energy to plain S-wave energy, S-wave energy is converted back to P-wave energy in the motor transducer. Similar transducers without mode converters are used to measure P-wave velocities. The apparatus is designed for testing rock samples under axial or uniform loading in the pressure range 0 to 12,000 psi. The transducers have certain advantages over those used by King,1 and the measurement techniques are influenced less by subjective elements than other methods previously reported. An electronic counter-timer having a resolution of 10 nanoseconds measures the transit time of ultrasonic pulses through the sample; elastic wave velocities of most homogeneous materials can be measured with errors of less than 1 percent. S- and P-wave velocity measurements on Bandera sandstone and Solenhofen limestone are reported for the axial pressure range 0 to 6,000 psi and for the uniform pressure range 0 to 10,000 psi. The influence of liquid pore saturants on P- and S-wave velocity is investigated and found to be in broad agreement with Biot's theory. In specific areas, the measurements do not conform to theory. Velocities of samples measured under axial and uniform loading are compared and, in general, velocities measured under uniform stress are higher than those measured under axial stress. Liquid pore fluids cause increases in Poisson's ratio and the bulk modulus but reduce the rigidity modulus, Young's modulus and the bulk compressibility. INTRODUCTION Ultrasonic pulse methods for measuring the shear wave velocity of rock samples in the laboratory have been gradually improved during the last few years. Early experimental pulse techniques reported by Hughes et al.2, and by Gregory3 were beset by uncertainties in determining the first arrival of the shear wave (S-wave) energy. Much of this ambiguity was caused by the multiple modes propagated by piezoelectric crystals and by boundary conversions in the rock specimens. Shear wave velocity data obtained from the critical angle method, described by Schneider and Burton4 and used later by King and Fatt5 and by Gregory,3,6 are of limited accuracy, and interpreting results is too complicated for routine laboratory work. The mode conversion method described by Jamieson and Hoskins7 was recently used by King1 for measuring the S-wave velocities of dry and liquid-saturated rock samples. Glass-air interfaces acted as mode converters in the apparatus, and much of the compressional (P-wave) energy apparently was eliminated from the desired pure shear mode. A more detailed discussion of the current status of laboratory pulse methods applied to geological specimens is given in a review by Simmons.8

scholarly journals Downhole distributed acoustic seismic profiling at Skytrain Ice Rise, West Antarctica

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Brisbourne ◽  
Mike Kendall ◽  
Sofia Kufner ◽  
Thomas Hudson ◽  
Andrew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Seismic Profile ◽  
Seismic Attenuation ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
P Wave ◽  
West Antarctica ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Ice Flow

<p>Antarctic ice sheet history is imprinted in the structure and fabric of the ice column. At ice rises, the signature of ice flow history is preserved due to the low strain rates inherent at these independent ice flow centres. We present results from a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) experiment at Skytrain Ice Rise in the Weddell Sea Sector of West Antarctica, aimed at delineating the englacial fabric to improve our understanding of ice sheet history in the region. This pilot experiment demonstrates the feasibility of an innovative technique to delineate ice rise structure. Both direct and reflected P- and S-wave energy, as well as surface wave energy, are observed using a range of source offsets, i.e., a walkaway vertical seismic profile (VSP), recorded using fibre optic cable. Significant noise, which results from the cable hanging untethered in the borehole, is modelled and suppressed at the processing stage. At greater depth, where the cable is suspended in drilling fluid, seismic interval velocities and attenuation are measured. Vertical P-wave velocities are high (V<sub>INT</sub> = 4029 ± 244 m s<sup>-1</sup>) and consistent with a strong vertical cluster fabric. Seismic attenuation is high (Q<sub>INT </sub>= 75 ± 12) and contrary to observations in ice sheets over this temperature range. The signal level is too low, and the noise level too high, to undertake analysis of englacial fabric variability. However, modelling of P- and S-wave traveltimes and amplitudes with a range of fabric geometries, combined with these measurements, demonstrates the capacity of the DAS method to discriminate englacial fabric distribution. From this pilot study we make a number of recommendations for future experiments aimed at quantifying englacial fabric to improve our understanding of recent ice sheet history.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals The effects of tool eccentricity on individual P and S head waves in monopole acoustic LWD

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-84
Author(s):  
Yunjia Ji ◽  
Xiao He ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
Xiuming Wang
Keyword(s):  
P Wave ◽  
Branch Points ◽  
Wave Excitation ◽  
Integration Technique ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Excitation Spectra ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
S Waves ◽  
Head Waves ◽  
Logging While Drilling

Abstract Velocities of P and S waves are main goals of downhole acoustic logging. In this work, we study the effects of an off-center acoustic tool on formation P and S head waves in monopole logging while drilling (LWD), which will be helpful for accurate interpretation of recorded logs. We first develop an analytic method to solve the wavefields of this asymmetric LWD model. Then using a branch-cut integration technique, we evaluate the contributions of branch points associated with P and S waves, and further investigate the effects of tool eccentricity on their characteristics of excitation, attenuation and waveforms. The analyses reveal that the variation of the excitation and attenuation of both P and S head waves with eccentricity depends on frequencies and receiver azimuths strongly. Besides, new resonance peaks appear in excitation spectra due to influences of poles of multipole modes near branch points when the monopole tool is off-center. According to semblance results of individual compressional and shear waveforms, extracted velocities are not affected by tool eccentricity in both fast and slow formations. In fast formations, spectra analyses indicate that S-wave excitation is more sensitive to tool eccentricity than P-wave. Moreover, resonance peaks in P-wave excitation spectra increase with the increasing eccentricity in all directions. In slow formations, off-center tools almost have no influence on both P and S waves at low frequencies, which suggests that the effects of tool eccentricity can be reduced by adjusting the source's operating frequency.

The partition of radiated energy between P and S waves

1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-376
Author(s):  
John Boatwright ◽  
Jon B. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Focal Mechanisms ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Waves ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Corner Frequency ◽  
S Wave ◽  
S Waves ◽  
Radiated Energy

Abstract Seventy-three digitally recorded body waves from nine multiply recorded small earthquakes in Monticello, South Carolina, are analyzed to estimate the energy radiated in P and S waves. Assuming Qα = Qβ = 300, the body-wave spectra are corrected for attenuation in the frequency domain, and the velocity power spectra are integrated over frequency to estimate the radiated energy flux. Focal mechanisms determined for the events by fitting the observed displacement pulse areas are used to correct for the radiation patterns. Averaging the results from the nine events gives 27.3 ± 3.3 for the ratio of the S-wave energy to the P-wave energy using 0.5 〈Fi〉 as a lower bound for the radiation pattern corrections, and 23.7 ± 3.0 using no correction for the focal mechanisms. The average shift between the P-wave corner frequency and the S-wave corner frequency, 1.24 ± 0.22, gives the ratio 13.7 ± 7.3. The substantially higher values obtained from the integral technique implies that the P waves in this data set are depleted in energy relative to the S waves. Cursory inspection of the body-wave arrivals suggests that this enervation results from an anomalous site response at two of the stations. Using the ratio of the P-wave moments to the S-wave moments to correct the two integral estimates gives 16.7 and 14.4 for the ratio of the S-wave energy to the P-wave energy.

A discrimination analysis of short-period regional seismic data recorded at Tonto Forest Observatory

1982 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 1351-1366
Author(s):  
J. R. Murphy ◽  
T. J. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Epicentral Distance ◽  
Test Site ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Set Cover ◽  
Spectral Amplitude ◽  
Nevada Test Site ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Single Station ◽  
Regional Phases

abstract A new seismic discriminant based on spectral differences of regional phases from earthquakes and explosions recorded at a single station has been tested and found to work remarkably well. The test data consisted of a well-constrained set of 30 Nevada Test Site (NTS) explosions and 21 earthquakes located within about 100 km of NTS which were recorded on short-period seismographs at the Tonto Forest Observatory in central Arizona at an epicentral distance averaging 530 km. The events in the data set cover a magnitude range from 3.3 to 4.8 (mb) for which Pn, Pg, and Lg phases have been analyzed. We found that, although Lg phases from earthquakes are typically more prominent than for explosions with comparable P-wave amplitude levels, simple time-domain Lg/P amplitude ratios do not result in a separation of the earthquake and explosion samples consistent enough to provide reliable discrimination. However, spectral analyses of the data over the frequency band from 0.5 to 5.0 Hz revealed significant differences in the spectra of certain regional phases which proved to be a quite reliable discriminant. In particular, both the Pg and Lg spectra from earthquakes have been found to be richer in high-frequency content than corresponding explosion spectra. A discriminant measure, defined as the ratio of average Lg spectral amplitude level in the 0.5- to 1.0-Hz passband to that in the 2.0- to 4.0-Hz passband, provides good separation of earthquake and explosion populations.

Theory of scattered P- and S-wave energy in a random isotropic scattering medium

1993 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1264-1276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuehua Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Elastic Wave ◽  
Wave Field ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Wave Scattering ◽  
Energy Equation ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Isotropic Scattering ◽  
Scattering Medium ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Elastic Wave Energy

Abstract A new theory is presented to study the scattered elastic wave energy propagation in a random isotropic scattering medium. It is based on a scattered elastic wave energy equation that extends the work of Zeng et al. (1991) on multiple scattering by considering S to P and P to S wave scattering conversions. We obtain a complete solution of the scattered elastic wave energy equation by solving the equation in the frequency/wave-number domain. Using a discrete wave-number sum technique combined with a modified repeated averaging and the FFT method, we compute numerically the complete solution. By considering that the scattering conversion from P- to S-wave energy is about (α/β)4 times greater than that from S to P waves (Aki, 1992), we found that the P-wave scattering field was converted quickly to the S-wave scattering field, leading to the conclusion that coda waves generated from both P- and S-wave sources are actually dominated by scattered S waves. We also compared our result with that obtained under the acoustic wave assumption. The acoustic wave assumption for seismic coda works quite well for the scattered S-wave field but fails for the scattered P-wave field. Our scattered elastic wave energy equation provides a theoretical foundation for studying the scattered wave field generated by a P-wave source such as an explosion. The scattered elastic wave energy equation can be easily generalized to an inhomogeneous random scattering medium by considering variable scattering and absorption coefficients and elastic wave velocities in the earth.

Canonical analytical solutions of wave-induced thermoelastic attenuation

2020 ◽  
Vol 221 (2) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M Carcione ◽  
Davide Gei ◽  
Juan E Santos ◽  
Li-Yun Fu ◽  
Jing Ba
Keyword(s):  
P Wave ◽  
Layered System ◽  
Thermal Mode ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
High Frequencies ◽  
Cylindrical Cavities ◽  
Relaxation Curves ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
Flow Attenuation

SUMMARY Thermoelastic attenuation is similar to wave-induced fluid-flow attenuation (mesoscopic loss) due to conversion of the fast P wave to the slow (Biot) P mode. In the thermoelastic case, the P- and S-wave energies are lost because of thermal diffusion. The thermal mode is diffusive at low frequencies and wave-like at high frequencies, in the same manner as the Biot slow mode. Therefore, at low frequencies, that is, neglecting the inertial terms, a mathematical analogy can be established between the diffusion equations in poroelasticity and thermoelasticity. We study thermoelastic dissipation for spherical and cylindrical cavities (or pores) in 2-D and 3-D, respectively, and a finely layered system, where, in the latter case, only the Grüneisen ratio is allowed to vary. The results show typical quality-factor relaxation curves similar to Zener peaks. There is no dissipation when the radius of the pores tends to zero and the layers have the same properties. Although idealized, these canonical solutions are useful to study the physics of thermoelasticity and test numerical algorithm codes that simulate thermoelastic dissipation.

The effects of near-source heterogeneity on shear-wave evolution

Geophysics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. T233-T241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Sherman ◽  
James Rector ◽  
Steven Glaser
Keyword(s):  
Wave Propagation ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Mode Conversion ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Seismic Source ◽  
Elastic Half Space ◽  
P Wave ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Rytov Approximation ◽  
Model Features

The Born and Rytov approximation, radiative transfer theory, and other related techniques are commonly used to model features of wave propagation through heterogeneous geologic media such as scattering, attenuation, and pulse-broadening. However, due to the underlying assumptions about the scattering direction and the reference Green’s function, these methods overlook important features of the wavefield such as mode conversion and near-field term coupling. These effects are particularly important within the predicted S-wave nodes of a seismic source, so we analyzed the problem of wave propagation beneath a vertical-point force on the surface of a heterogeneous, elastic half space. To do this, we generated a suite of 3D synthetic heterogeneous geologic models using fractal statistics and simulated the wave propagation using the finite-difference method. We derived an estimate for the effective source radiation patterns, and we used these to compare the results of the models. Our numerical results showed that, due to a combination of mode conversion and near-source coupling effects, S-wave energy on the order of 10% of the P-wave energy is generated within the shear-radiation node. In some cases, this S-wave energy may occur as a coherent pulse and may be used to enhance seismic imaging.

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