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DOI:10.1007/s11770-016-0532-6
Abstract: We developed an anisotropic effective theoretical model for modeling the elastic
behavior of anisotropic carbonate reservoirs by combining the anisotropic self-consistent
approximation and differential effective medium models. By analyzing the measured data
from carbonate samples in the TL area, a carbonate pore-structure model for estimating the
elastic parameters of carbonate rocks is proposed, which is a prerequisite in the analysis of
carbonate reservoirs. A workflow for determining elastic properties of carbonate reservoirs
is established in terms of the anisotropic effective theoretical model and the pore-structure
model. We performed numerical experiments and compared the theoretical prediction and
measured data. The result of the comparison suggests that the proposed anisotropic effective
theoretical model can account for the relation between velocity and porosity in carbonate
reservoirs. The model forms the basis for developing new tools for predicting and evaluating
the properties of carbonate reservoirs.
Keywords: anisotropy, rock physics, pore structure, modulus, carbonates
Manuscript received by the Editor January 1, 2015; revised manuscript received January 1, 2016.
*This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41274136).
1. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resource and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China.
2. CNPC Key Lab of China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China.
3. Research Institute of Exploration and Development, Xinjiang Oilfield, PetroChina, Karamay, Xinjiang 83400, China.
♦Corresponding author: Li Sheng-Jie (Email: Richard@cup.edu.cn)
© 2016 The Editorial Department of APPLIED GEOPHYSICS. All rights reserved.
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Li et al.
reservoirs. Consequently, rock physics models that can medium model to account for the anisotropy in shale
account for the elastic properties of complex carbonate reservoirs. Nonetheless, this model can only be used
reservoirs are needed. to determine the anisotropic characteristics of shale
The carbonate matrix typically consists of several reservoirs at high-frequency conditions and is neither
components with variable grain size, connected or suitable for sandstone nor carbonate reservoirs, only for
unconnected pores of variable shape, and different pure shale formations. Keys and Xu (2002) developed
pore-filling materials (e.g., fluid, debris). All these a model to calculate the elastic properties of shaly
make carbonates a strongly heterogeneous composite sandstones by using the pore characteristics of dry rocks
medium. It is well known that the elastic properties of but failed to account for anisotropy.
carbonate reservoirs are anisotropic and the degree of Based on the characteristics of the carbonate rock
elastic anisotropy depends on many factors, that is, the matrix and pore structure, and the effect of the latter
distribution of mineral grains, the preferred orientation of on the elastic properties of carbonates, we developed
pore structure and connectivity, the presence of cracks or an anisotropic effective medium model for carbonate
fault zones, and the local principal stress. Among these reservoirs.
factors, the preferred orientation of fractures and cavities
in the carbonate reservoirs is one of the main factors
causing seismic anisotropy. Landro (2015) derived an Method
analytical aspect ratio relations between 2D eliipses
and 3D ellisoids; Regnet et al (2015) found that micrite
particle size and morphology affected elastic properties Rock physical characteristics of carbonate rocks
of carbonate rocks; Huang et al (2015) discussed the There are several factors that affect the elastic
method of fluid substitution in complex pore structure properties of carbonates, such as the composition of the
and the effect of fluid substitution on seismic responses; carbonate minerals, the porosity and shape of pores, the
Yu et al (2014) studied the relation between seismic pore-fluid properties, saturation, temperature, pressure,
responses and fluid properties in carbonate reservoirs; Li seismic wave frequency, and so on. In general, the
and Chen (2013) described a method of modelling elastic variation in carbonate mineralogy is small. The solid
properties in carbonate rocks at seismic frequency. matrix of carbonates mainly consists of calcite, dolomite,
Many theoretical rock physics models are used to aragonite, detrital minerals, anhydrite, and others.
characterize heterogeneous porous media. Several Therefore, the elastic properties of the carbonate matrix
of them consider the heterogeneous medium as an is nearly independent of mineral composition and the
equivalent homogeneous elastic material. This type of velocity of the carbonate frames can be approximately
models is known as the effective medium model. Most replaced by the mineral velocity when the porosity of the
homogeneous effective medium models are based on carbonates is very low.
isotropic models to treat the solid matrix and pore fluids, Numerous measurements show that seismic wave
ignoring the coupling between the rock skeleton and propagation in carbonates is very complex. There is an
pore fluids. Consequently, such models can only be used obvious nonlinear relation between velocity and porosity
to model sparsely distributed porous media, which limits even under laboratory conditions where the experimental
their application. Under long wavelength conditions, the frequency, temperature, pressure, and fluid properties
differential effective medium (DEM) and self-consistent can be precisely controlled, as shown in Figure 1. The
approximation (SCA) models can be used to determine scatter in the data is difficult to interpret by seismic wave
the elastic properties of isotropic, saturated porous media theory or rock physics models. The porosity, pore size,
iteratively. Nonetheless, the DEM and SCA models only pore shape, and pore connectivity in carbonates strongly
give us the elastic parameters of media with isolated affect the seismic wave velocity in carbonates.
inclusions. Many researchers (Anselmetti et al., 1999; Asseffa
Existing effective medium models of heterogeneous et al., 2003; Eberli et al., 2003) have extensively
media cannot be used to directly estimate the elastic studied the relation between carbonate pore type and
parameters of carbonate reservoirs. Xu and White (1995) seismic velocity by using laboratory experiments
developed an iterative model to calculate the elastic and theoretical models. The results show that the
properties of shaly sandstones; however, their model divergent relation between velocity and porosity can
cannot adequately account for the anisotropy in the be reasonably modeled based on the pore structure.
reservoirs. Hornby et al. (1994) proposed an effective In general, the velocity of carbonates is high when
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Anisotropic rock physics models
the pores are isolated and spherical, whereas the micropores with diameter less than 20 μm, middle pores
velocity is low in fractured carbonates. Anselmetti’ with diameter around 20–100 μm, and large pores for
s research (1999) showed that there are different pore diameter larger than 100 μm.
velocity–porosity trends in carbonate samples with Intercrystaline pores, interparticle pores, intraparticle
different pore shapes. The relation between velocity pores, moldic pores, vuggy, fenestral, growth-framework
and porosity in carbonates can be grouped according pores, and fractures are common in carbonate reservoirs.
to the pore structure of the samples. Figure 1 shows Among them, the shapes of intercrystaline and
the relation between measured velocity and porosity interparticle pores are commonly irregular. Intraparticle
of limestone samples from the TL area in the western pores often appear in a single grain or open organic
basin of China. The measurements were conducted by materials. Moldic porosity is due to the dissolution of
using ultrasonic pulse transmission methods with work organic materials in carbonates. Cracks are formed by
frequency at 0.8 kHzunder high temperature (100º~120º) stress variations, e.g., tectonic stress variations, cavity
and pressures (90 MPa~115MPa) to simulate the in collapse, and abnormal changes in pore pressure, and so
situ formation condition. The data set consists of 370 on. According to the carbonate pore classification and
samples of limestones and dolomitic limestones. The framework, the porosity of carbonates can be divided
porosity of the samples is relatively low. The pores are into primary and secondary porosity. Primary porosity
intergranular, intragranular, ooid-like, and microcracks. is the portion of pore space that was present at the end
The data scatter is high even at low porosity. Velocity of the deposition. Secondary porosity is created after the
differences as a function of porosity reach 1000 m/s termination of deposition. Pore types, such as fractures
when the porosity is greater than 2%, which likely and cavities, are secondary porosity. Rocks with
reflects the stronger diversification in the pore structure intraparticle, or moldic, porosity and cavities are not
of the carbonate samples in this group. Clearly, the easily deformed, whereas fractured rocks are more easily
pore structure of carbonates needs to be studied prior to deformed, as shown in Figure 2.
building rock physics models. A CT scanning image of a limestone sample, which
was selected from a drilled well in the TL area, is shown
7.5 in the upper left corner in Figure 2. The distribution of
7.0 cracks is clearly seen in the CT scanning image (indicated
by a red arrow). An image of the porosity of this sample
6.5
is shown in the upper right corner of Figure 2. There are
Velocity (km/s)
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Li et al.
between carbonate pore structures and P-wave velocity medium models, they investigated the effect of pore
by improving the Xu–White model. Their results show shapes on velocity. The numerical results agreed well
that spherical pores, like moldic and dissolved pores, with published experimental data. Weger et al. (2004)
are associated with high velocity, whereas the velocity suggested that carbonate elastic properties are closely
of fractured rock is relatively low. Kumar and Han related to pore size and complexity. Their study showed
(2005) divided the carbonate pore spaces into ellipsoids that carbonate pore shape, and pore size and sparsity
and fractures. By using isotropic differential effective strongly affect the elastic properties of carbonates.
CT CAST
10 X 60 X
SEM SEM
1000 X 2000 X
Xu and Payne (2009) proposed a pore-structure model data on pore structure (size, shape, and distributions),
for carbonates, which divided the pore structure into pore-filling materials, and pore connectivity.
four categories: pores filled with clays, intergranular Based on the measured data, the carbonate porosity
pores, spherical pores, and fractures. Their pore model can be divided into rigid pores that mostly consist of stiff
follows the Xu–White model; thus, there are differences ellipsoidal pores and soft pores that are mainly flexible
compared with actual carbonates. First, carbonates fractures
typically consist of several minerals. The Hill model
or SCA model can be used to characterize argillaceous I Is I f or I Is I f 0 e EV ,
limestones or argillaceous dolomites. Second, it is
difficult to classify the intergranular, intragranular, and where I s denotes the rigid pores, such as pores due to
moldic porosity and the pore space of carbonates in dissolution and some larger moldic, and interparticle
practice. Furthermore, the interaction of grains with pore pores. Ellipsoidal pores characterize this type of pore
fluids and pore connectivity should be accounted for structure. The pore diameter is relatively large, second or
when the effect of pore fluids on the elastic properties is third group in Lucia’s classification. I f denotes the soft
considered. Therefore, to build rock physics models for pores, which consists of microcracks around the particle
strongly heterogeneous carbonates, we need to synthesize edges and fractures induced by external forces. The
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Anisotropic rock physics models
small pore aspect ratio is the characteristic of this pore The anisotropic effective medium model
structure. Fracture pores can be traced by experiments
Carbonate rocks, in contrast to sandstones, display
or logging data. I f0 is the fracture porosity under complex pore structures with various pore shapes. The
atmospheric pressure, β is the gradient of the formation pore shape is the most significant rock property affecting
pressure, and σ is the stress. Other isolated micropores the elastic property of the carbonate rocks. To investigate
in rocks, including small intergranular and intragranular the effect of pore shapes on the elastic property of
pores (the first category in Lucia’s classification), are carbonate rocks, the effective medium theory was used.
treated as inclusions in the rock matrix. The most popular effective medium approaches are the
self-consistent scheme (SC) and the differential effective
medium scheme (DEM), which have the potential to
capture the effect of pore shapes on elastic properties.
10 In particular, DEM is often used to model the elastic
behavior of composite rocks. The DEM assume that the
rock matrix has moduli K0 and μ0. The inclusion material
Log k (mD)
1
has moduli Ki and μi. Then, the effective bulk and shear
moduli of the composite are parameterized by K*(v) and
0.1 μ*(v), when the volume fraction of the inclusion phase
is v. the isotropic form of DEM equation governing the
changes in these constants are then to be
0.01
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5
Porosity (%) dK * (v)
1 v ª¬ K i K * (v) º¼ P*i (1)
Fig.3 Permeability vs porosity of the carbonate samples dv
used in this study. and
Black dots indicate micropores, which are viewed as part of the
solid matrix in the carbonates; red dots (related to fractures or d P * (v )
cracks) indicate the soft pores; blue dots represent the rigid pores. 1 v ª¬ P i P * (v) º¼ Q*i , (2)
dv
The pore-structure model is mainly based on following. where the parameter v equals the inclusion volume
Many unconnected micropores exist in the carbonate fraction, the superscript i denotes the inclusion phase,
matrix. The micropores are mostly intracrystaline, the factors P*i and Q*i are the polarization factors for
intergranular, and intragranular pores (Figure 2). The bulk and shear modulus. They depend on the bulk and
diameter of the micropores is very small compared to the shear moduli of both the rock matrix and inclusions, and
wavelength and the pores are randomly distributed. The the shapes of the inclusions.
effect of this pore structure on the rock elastic properties In general, the isotropic form of DEM is regularly
is negligible. In addition, the pore connectivity is applied to analysis the effect of pore shapes on elastic
poor (black points in Figure 3). Therefore, these properties of a composite. As mentioned above, there
micropores are viewed as part of the solid matrix of are unconnected and connected pores or fractures in
the carbonates. The measured data in Figure 3 are from carbonates, carbonate reservoir is often exhibited to
drill core sections in the TL area. Fractures or cracks are be elastic anisotropy, it is not appropriate to use the
relatively well developed owing to the brittleness of the isotropic form of DEM to model elastic behaviors of
carbonates. The fractured formation is easily identified in carbonate rocks with connected pores. To establish
the porosity–permeability relation (red dots in Figure 3); anisotropic carbonate rock physics model, we derived
low porosity corresponds to high permeability. The stiff the anisotropic form of SC (equation (A-18) in Appendix
pore, such as vugs and irregular pores, is an important A) and DEM model (equation (A-19) in Appendix A) ,
and a major component of the effective porosity in The detailed derivation is listed in Appendix A.
carbonate reservoirs. Thus, the effective medium model
N
of carbonates can be divided to two parts, that is , the
¦ v C I E(C CSCA )
n n 1
CSCA
rock matrix and pore space. The rock matrix includes n 1
n
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Li et al.
and In Figure 4, the Vp11 and Vp33 are calculated with the
anisotropic effective elastic model (equation (4)), Vp11
d
1 v (C DEM (v)) represents the horizontal P-wave velocity and Vp33 denotes
dv the vertical P-wave velocity; Vpiso is firstly calculated
C C DEM (v) ª¬ I E(Cn C DEM (v)) º¼ ,
1
n
(4) with the isotropic form of DEM (equation (1) and (2)),
then saturated with water by Gassmann’s equation. We
compare the effective elastic components calculated by
where C is a fourth-order tensor, subscript SC denotes
the anisotropic form of DEM with the same modulus
the self-consistent effective rigid tensor, subscript DEM
obtained by isotropic form of DEM. The comparisons
represents the differential effective rigid tensor, the
of the velocity demonstrates that the velocity decrease
superscript n and m (Cn and Cm) are the rigid tensors of
with the increasing porosity. Vpiso is always slower than
the inclusions; I is the fourth-order identity tensor, E is the
Vp11, but faster than Vp33 for porosity greater than 5%,
geometrical tensor, known as the Eshelby tensor (Eshelby,
and slower than Vp33 for porosity less than 5%. Vp11 is
1957), the scale N denotes the total number classes of
commonly greater than Vp33 for a VTI medium consisting
inclusions, the scalar v is the inclusion volume fraction.
of aligned horizontal fractures embedded in the solid
It is well known that isotropic form of DEM is suitable
matrix, implying that P waves propagate perpendicular
for modeling the elastic properties of a composite with
to the axis of symmetry faster than parallel to the axis
idealized ellipsoidal inclusions, which are sufficiently
of symmetry. The result of comparisons implies that the
sparse that they do not constitute any connected
elastic wave velocity in anisotropic rocks depends on the
networks throughout the composite. It is imply that
porosity of aligned inclusions.
isotropic form of DEM can only be used to model the
Compared with isotropic DEM equation (1),
elastic properties of the carbonate with isolate pores or
anisotropic DEM equation (4) account not only for
cracks. For real carbonate rocks, there are many cracks
the change in velocity of different direction of seismic
that connect different pores and fracture, which make it
wave, but also for the relationship between velocity and
possible for hydrocarbon accumulation in carbonates.
oriented fractures. Isotropic media is a sampler specific
Therefore, it is appropriate to use the anisotropic form
case of anisotropy. In order to further evaluate the
of DEM to model elastic behavior of carbonate reservoir
accuracy of equation (4) in the case of elastic anisotropic
with connected pore or fractures.
media. Measurements on fractured carbonate samples
To compare the differences between the isotropic and
are used to compare with different DEM model.
anisotropic form of DEM, a numerical experiment was
Outcrop fractured carbonate rocks were used, three
performed. A VTI (transverse isotropic with vertical
samples were taken (one oriented perpendicular, one
axis of symmetry) model is assumed; the model consists
parallel, and one oblique, to the dominant fracture
of solid matrix and aligned pores filled with water. The
direction) to include fracture anisotropy in each sample.
solid matrix has a bulk modulus of 76 GPa, a shear
P-wave and S-wave velocity, porosity and density
modulus of 42 GPa, and density of 2.87 g/cm3. The fluid
measurement were made on the same samples. The
component has a bulk modulus of 2.2 GPa, and density
average porosity and density of samples are 1.7% and
equal to 1.04 g/cm3. The aspect ratio (AR) of inclusions
2.83 g/cc, respectively. The velocities of samples were
is 0.05. The results are presented in Figure 4.
measured both perpendicular (V P (0˚) and V SH (0˚)),
and parallel (VP (90˚) and VSH (90˚)) to the direction of
7 dominant fracture. A P-wave velocity was measured
oblique (VP (45˚)) to the dominant fracture. The elastic
6 Vp11 constant of anisotropic sample were calculated based on
Velocity (km/s)
171
Anisotropic rock physics models
Figure 5a shows that outcrop samples drilled parallel anisotropy is weak in the present samples. The seismic
to the dominant fracture had higher velocity than that anisotropy show a decrease with increasing effective
of perpendicular to the dominant fracture, as expected. pressure because of the closure of compliant cracks in
The P-wave anisotropy is significant, but the S-wave samples.
140 100
120
Stiffness constants (GPa)
80
40
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Effective pressure (MPa) Porosity (%)
Fig.5 Analyzing the measurements of anisotropic sample with modelling results.
(a) stiffness constants vs effective porosity in carboanten samples; (b) comparison of the elastic moduli estimated by isotropic DEM with anisotropic DEM.
Based on the measured elastic parameters, the carbonate reservoirs in some cases overestimate actual
equation (1) and (4) were applied to investigate the effect of pore shapes on velocity and underestimate them
difference in isotropic DEM and anisotropic DEM. in some others, resulting in incorrect interpretation of
For isotropic DEM model, the bulk modulus and shear seismic response for carbonate reservoirs.
modulus derived from the average of velocity both
parallel and perpendicular to the dominant fracture are The workflow for carbonate rock physical
42 GPa and 36 GPa. The stiff elastic tensor of matrix are
selected from measured result at the effective pressure modeling
20 MPa, with c11 = 101.56 GPa, c13 = 28.24 GPa, c33 = To model the elastic parameters of cracked carbonate
78.16 GPa, c44 = 33.08 GPa and c66 = 39.73 GPa. The reservoirs by using anisotropic form of DEM, carbonate
ellipsoidal inclusions with an aspect ratio to be 0.05 reservoirs is approximated as transversely isotropic,
are used to mimic fractures within rocks, the porosity various minerals of carbonates are treated as isotropic.
used in modeling is limited up to 30%. The result of Then based on the volume fraction of minerals, the initial
numerical experiments shows in Figure 5b. composite matrix is constructed by using anisotropic
Figure 5b shows that there is a difference in isotropic form of SC (equation (3)) iteratively, which can correctly
DEM and anisotropic DEM. The bulk modulus handle the interaction between the different inclusions.
calculated by isotropic DEM decrease with increasing The dry rock properties can be established by using
fracture porosity. The elastic constant derived by anisotropic form of DEM model (equation (4)) according
anisotropic DEM in different wave propagation to the initial composite matrix. The anisotropic fluid
directions are sensitive to fracture porosity. The c11 has substitution theory (Brown and Korringa, 1975) is used
a slight decreasing with the change in fracture porosity, to fill pore fluid under anisotropic condition. Finally,
but c33 is sensitive to fracture porosities. The elastic the isolate micropores are added into the rock matrix by
modulus calculated by isotropic DEM is close to the using Kuster-Toksoz model (Kuster and Tokson, 1974):
elastic constant c33.
The comparison demonstrates that measured velocities (K 0 4ȝ 0 / 3) N
172
Li et al.
173
Anisotropic rock physics models
6 when spherical pores (cavity or vugs) are relatively data. The results are shown in Figure 7.
well developed. In contrast, the down-arrow in Figure 6 Figure 7 shows that the majority of the measured
shows the decreasing velocity when pore shapes become data are distributed around the AR = 0.15 line, whereas
flat. the rest of the data, as expected, fall on the velocity–
The relation between velocity and porosity of porosity trend lines for fractured samples. By comparing
carbonates suggests that the larger the pore aspect ratio the theoretical prediction with the measured data in
is, the greater the rock resistance to deformation is, Figure 7, we can see that the proposed anisotropic
and thus the velocity increases. In contrast, carbonate theoretical model provides the basis for qualitatively
velocity decreases because of fracture pores. We analyzing the pore structure of carbonate reservoirs and
compared the theoretical prediction with the measured fracture zones.
8 7.0
7
6.5
Stiff
6
HS_Up AR = 0.4
5 6.0 AR = 0.3
AR = 0.4 AR = 0.2
4 AR = 0.3
Matr 5.5 AR = 0.15
ix tre AR = 0.2
nds
AR = 0.15 AR = 0.1
3
Soft
AR = 0.1
AR = 0.05
AR = 0.01 5.0 AR = 0.05
2 HS_Down
AR = 0.01
1 4.5
0 10 20 30 40 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Porosity (%) Porosity (%)
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Li et al.
theoretical model can be used to analyze the relation new technologies for seismic data prediction and
between velocity and porosity of carbonate reservoirs interpretation in fractured sections.
and evaluate carbonate formations.
Acknowledgment
Conclusions
The authors would like to thank Lv Hua-Xing and Liu
We developed an anisotropic effective theoretical Yang for their help in preparing this paper. We also thank
model for carbonate reservoirs based on effective the anonymous reviewers for reviewing the manuscript
medium theory. We also proposed a workflow for and helpful suggestions.
estimating the elastic properties of anisotropic
composites. Compared with conventional isotropic
models, the advantage of the proposed anisotropic References
model is that it can estimate the effective elastic tensor
of anisotropic media. The anisotropic self-consistent
approximate model and differential effective medium Agersborg, R. T., Hohansen, A., and Jakobsen, M., 2005,
model developed in this study can calculate and analyze The T-matrix approach for carbonate rocks: 75th Ann.
the interaction between inclusions within composite Internat. Mtg., Soc. Explor. Geophys., Expanded
media, and provide a reasonable basis for anisotropic Abstracts, 1597–1600.
fluid substitution. Therefore, the proposed anisotropic Anselmetti, F., and Ebrili, G. P., 1999, The velocity-
model is more suitable for calculating and analyzing the deviation log: A tool to predict pore type and
elastic properties of anisotropic carbonate reservoirs. permeability trends in carbonate drill holes from sonic
By analyzing the pore-structure characteristics of thin and porosity or density log: AAPG Bulletin, 83(3), 450–
466.
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Asseffa, S., McCann, C., and Sothcott, J., 2003, Velocity
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of compressional and shear waves in limestones:
which accounts for the pore shape, size, and other
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solid domain. The pore domain consists of fracture-like
elastic properties of a porous rock on the compressibility
soft pores and stiff pores; the solid domain comprises
of the pore fluid: Geophysics, 40(4), 608–616.
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model can be used to distinguish fractures from the
heterogeneous materials: J. Mech. Phys. Solid, 13(4),
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Carcione, J. M., and Avseth, P., 2015, Rock-physics
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templates for clay-rich source rocks: Geophysics, 80(5),
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Castagna, J., Batzle, M., and Eastwood, R., 1985,
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Relationships between compressional-wave and shear-
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wave velocity in clastic silicate rocks: Geophysics, 50(4),
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the relation between velocity and porosity in carbonate Choquette, P. W., and Pray, L. C., 1970, Geologic
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pattern in limestone reservoirs with variable pore shapes. materials: Wiley, New York, 31–71.
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and porosity. 108–121.
The proposed method provides a novel method for Eberli, G. P., Baechle, G., Anselmetti, F., Incze, M.,
analyzing carbonate reservoirs. The anisotropic effective Dong, W., Tura, A., and Saparkman, G., 2003, Factors
theoretical model forms the basis for developing controlling elastic properties in carbonate sediments and
175
Anisotropic rock physics models
Appendix A
We assume that the matrix of a composite materials We assume that the compliance tensor does not change
occupying a volume V, is subject to boundary when the composite medium experiences external
displacement that is compatible with the volumetric forces, and the average strain and stress of the composite
average strain e throughout V. Furthermore, there medium is (Christensen, 2005)
are different homogeneous inclusions with different
1 N
properties in the composite media. The volumetric e ¦
Vn0 ³e ij ( x)dV (A-2)
average stress ı within V is given by (Christensen, 2005) Vn
and
ı C* e , (A-1) 1 N
ı ¦
Vn0 ³ı ij ( x)dV , (A-3)
where C is the overall elastic tensor of the materials
* Vn
and indicates volumetric averages of the enclosed where eij (x) and σij (x) are the local strain and stress
properties. at position x, respectively, N denotes the number of
176
Li et al.
N
inclusions, V is the volume of the composite medium,
C* C0 ¦ vn Cn C0 Tn . (A-12)
and Vn is the volume of inclusions. n 1
We define the average stress and strain in the nth
inclusion as For ellipsoidal inclusions, Tn is explicitly given as
(Willis, 1977)
Vn ı n ³ ıdV (A-4)
1
Vn Tn ª¬I E(Cn C0 ) º¼ , (A-13)
and
where I is the fourth-order identity tensor and E is the
Vn en
Vn
³ edV , (A-5) pore-shape tensor, known as the Eshelby tensor (Eshelby,
1957).
where σn and en are the average strain and stress in the Be substituting equation (13) to equation (12), we
nth inclusion, respectively. The constitutive equation for obtain
the inclusions can be written as (Christensen, 2005) N
C0 ¦ vn Cn C0 ª¬I E(Cn C0 ) º¼ . (A-14)
1
C*
n n n
ı Ce , (A-6) n 1
where Cn is a fourth-order elastic stiffness tensor and To determine the elastic tensor of composite media,
the stiffness tensor of each inclusion must be determined
N
e ¦v
n 0
n en (A-7) first.
If the inclusions are homogeneous and randomly
and distributed, the effective elastic properties of composite
media can be calculated by using the isotropic SCA
N N
ı ¦v ı ¦v C e ,
n 0
n
n
n 0
n
n n
(A-8) or DEM model (Mavko et al., 2001). However, these
isotropic effective models actually represent the elastic
behavior of composite media with isolated inclusions.
where vn is the volume fraction of the nth inclusion. There are different pore pressures within each inclusion.
We isolate the elastic moduli of the matrix from the Therefore, isotropic effective models cannot calculate
overall elastic tensor and express the elastic properties of actual carbonate reservoirs with
N connected fractures and cavities at seismic frequencies.
ı C0 e ¦ vn Cn C0 en , (A-9) To describe heterogeneous composite media with
n 1
connected pores, we first need to account for the
where c0 is the elastic stiffness tensor of the matrix of the equilibration of pore pressure and then to determine the
composite medium. elastic tensors.
Following the analysis of Willis (1977), the values of According to self-consistent models (Budiansky,
en are estimated by embedding an isolated inclusion with 1965), when we consider fully connected composite
moduli Cn subjected to average strain e far from the media, we can use the self-consistent effective rigid
tensor C SCA to replace the matrix tensor C 0 of the
inclusion. We define the tensor Tn that relates en to the
composite media.
average strain e as Following Walpole (1969), a homogeneous material
with moduli C0 is introduced and the polarization τn is
en Tn e , (A-10)
defined as
where Tn depends on the stiffness tensors Cn and C. We 1
substitute equation (10) to equation (9) and we obtain IJn ª¬(Cn C0 )1 E º¼ e , (A-15)
0 N n½
this then gives
®C ¦ vn C C T ¾ e .
n 0
ı (A-11)
¯ n 1 ¿ N 1
ı C* e IJ C* e ¦ vn ª¬(Cn C0 )1 E º¼ e.
By comparing equations (1) and (11), the effective n 1
177
Anisotropic rock physics models
It follows that d
1 v (C DEM (v))
N
dv
1
¦v C C DEM (v) ª¬ I E(Cn C DEM (v)) º¼ , (A-19)
1
n
ª¬(Cn CSCA )1 E º¼ 0, (A-17) n
n 1
¦ v C I E(C CSCA )
n n 1
CSCA n
n 1
1 Li Sheng-Jie received his PhD from the Department of
§ N 1 ·
¨ ¦ vm I E(C m CSCA ) ¸ . (A-18) Geophysics, University of Science and
©m 1 ¹ Technology of China in 2003. He is an
associate professor at the College of
When using the DEM model to calculate the effective
Geophysics and information engineering,
tensor of anisotropic media, we set the incremental
the China University of Petroleum.
volume ∆v of the inclusions with volume v; thus, the
His interests are seismic rock physics,
elastic tensor of the composite media can be expressed
reservoir characterization, and seismic
according to equation (14) as
interpretation.
(Edited by Hu Tian-Yue)
178