Prediction of Porosity and Density of Calcarenite Rocks from P-Wave Velocity Measurements

Abstract

Petrophysical proprieties such as porosity, density, permeability and saturation have a marked impact on acoustic pro- prieties of rocks. Hence, there has been recently a strong incentive to use new geophysical techniques to invert such properties from seismic or sonic measurements for rocks characterization. The P-wave velocity, which is non-destruc- tive and easy method to apply in both field and laboratory conditions, has increasingly been conducted to determine the geotechnical properties of rock materials. The P-wave velocity of a rock is closely related to the intact rock properties, and we have been measuring the velocity in rock masses and describe the rock structure and texture. The present work deals with the use of a simple and non-destructive technique, ultrasonic velocity, to predict the porosity and density of calcarenite rocks that are characteristic in historical monument. The ultrasonic test is based on measuring the propaga- tion time of a P-wave in the longitudinal direction. Good correlations between P-wave velocity, porosity and density were found, which indicated them as an appropriate technique for estimating the porosity and density.