Accurate P-wave reflection and transmission coefficients for non-welded interface incorporating elasto-plastic deformation

Abstract

P-wave reflection and transmission coefficients for non-welded interface play crucial roles in broad practical engineering productions, involving fracture properties prediction and seismic inversion. However, the existing reflection coefficient equations for non-welded interface in elasto-plastic media are seldom studied, although the elasto-plastic deformation is frequently encountered in the Earth’s subsurface due to artificial and tectonic activities. In this study, we proposed the accurate reflection and transmission coefficients equation for a non-welded interface embedded in an elasto-plastic deformed medium based on the elasto-plastic acoustoelastic and linear-slip theory. In detail, this paper uses elasto-plastic acoustoelastic theory to derive the reflection and transmission coefficients equation. The reflection and transmission coefficients matrix are solved using the linear-slip theory as the boundary condition. Moreover, we use the hardening parameter and plastic deformation to represent the plastic properties of the rock, which is a function of stress and plastic deformation. Through Numerical analysis, the deformation caused by static stress has significantly changed the amplitude and the slope of the reflection and transmission coefficients amplitude. As the stress increases, the rock’s velocity becomes higher, and all reflection and transmission coefficients (i.e., R_PP, R_PS, T_PP, T_PS) abruptly change at the critical angle. Furthermore, with the increase in plastic deformation, the critical angle of the incident P-wave and the hardening parameter becomes larger than the unstressed state. The non-welded interface exhibits a low-pass frequency filter for reflected SV-waves and a high-pass frequency filter for reflected P-waves and transmitted P and SV waves. In addition, we can observe that static vertical stress can weaken the anomalous reflections caused by non-welded formations, but the effect is insignificant. On the other hand, the effect of fracture normal compliance to reflection and transmission is detailly investigated. When N<2.5*10^-10(MPa^-1), The non-welded interface is close to the welded interface, while N>2.5*10^-5(MPa^-1), the non-welded interface is close to the solid-air interface.