Seismic effects of viscous Biot-coupling: Finite difference simulations on micro-scale

Abstract

This paper is concerned with numerical considerations of viscous fluid effects on wave propagation in porous media. We apply a displacement-stress rotated staggered finite-difference (FD) grid technique to solve the elastodynamic wave equation. An accurate approximation of a Newtonian fluid is implemented in this technique by using a generalized Maxwell body. With this approach we consider the velocity predictions of the Biot theory for elastic waves in different digital rock samples. To distinguish between the low and the high frequency range we estimate the effective permeabilities by a flow simulation. Our numerical results indicate that the viscous Biot-coupling is visible in the numerical experiments. Moreover, the influences of other solid-fluid interactions (e.g., Squirt flow) are also discussed. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.