Anisotropic rock physics models for interpreting pore structures in carbonate reservoirs

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.