An overview of the sediment acoustic models and their experimental validations

Abstract

The Biot theory of acoustic wave propagation in porous media was first adapted to marine sediments by Stoll (1969). To describe the response of a slightly inelastic skeletal frame over a wide frequency range, Stoll introduced the notion of constant complex bulk and shear moduli with small imaginary parts. Stoll’s model predicts f1 frequency-dependence of attenuation at low frequencies and nearly f2 and f1/2 frequency-dependence at frequencies where maximum velocity dispersion occurs. Although the theory well reproduces the velocity and attenuation measurements in marine sediments, the assumption of constant complex moduli slightly violates the causality (Turgut, 1990). The more recent Grain-Shearing (GS) and Viscous Grain-Shearing (VGS) models (Buckingham, 2000 and 2007) are causal and the VGS model also predicts a frequency-dependence of attenuation like that of the Stoll model. With the selection of proper parameter values, both models predict compressional and shear-wave dispersions that are in agreement with those of previous in-situ and laboratory measurements. In addition, the Stoll model predicts the existence of slow compressional waves that have been observed in synthetic porous media (Plona, 1980) but not in natural marine sediments. Several reflection and in-sediment transmission experiments are discussed to facilitate the detection of slow compressional waves in marine sediments. [Work supported by ONR.]